Epic of a Chibi Kitty
by Very Swampeh
Summary: When StarClan vanished hundreds of moons ago, the Warrior Code fell and chaos reined. A whispered prophecy spoke of a cat who would return StarClan to the skies. Could a pair of kittypets that enter the forest hold the answer? FMAxWarriors
1. Prolouge

**Right-o! This is my attempt at a Fullmetal Alchemist/Warriors Crossover! I have a plot in mind, but if it will turn out as good as I imagine it to be will be decided. Please take the time to review, and tell me what's wrong/right/horrible/wonderful about my story. **

**I don't own FMA or Warriors, because if I did, Barry would be in more episodes and Greystripe would have taken over the forest.**

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The crescent moon shone weakly into the forest as a chilling breeze wound its way through the trees. Not a cloud covered the sky, yet there was almost no light to illuminate the ground below. Only the occasional flicker of movement gave away the fact that there were cats in the forest.

Slowly, the group made their way to a large clearing, where a rock curved out of the ground like a talon. Upon the rock was a large golden tom with brown stripes. His deep golden eyes scanned the approaching shapes and his tail lashed from side to side. There was no sign of emotion anywhere on his body, but the tension emanating from the cats crowding below him was almost tangible.

Soon all the cats settled down and gazed up at the tom. He narrowed his eyes and counted mentally in his head. _One, two, three, four, five, six, seven… _Good, they were all here. It was time. A slight nod of his head signaled the beginning.

"Any news?" he asked, voice rumbling and causing one or two of the shapes below him to recoil. Others shifted unhappily, while only one seemed unfazed; bored, even.

One of the cats stepped forward. It was a she-cat with deep purple eyes. A smirk was written over every inch of her face and her thick black fur stirred slightly in the wind. "I have news," she stated, licking a paw and flexing her long, deadly claws at the same time.

The golden tom nodded. "Go on," he ordered, still emotionless.

"Immortalsoul left his kittypet mate and kits," she mewed, eyes gleaming in satisfaction of being the one to bring this news. A round of gasps erupted from the other assembled cats, all clearly surprised.

A flicker of surprise showed in the golden tom's eyes. "Really? Well, this proves he is a fool," he snarled, voice growing darker with each word. Things were not going to plan… "I'll need someone to make sure those kits get out of that Twoleg house," he growled. "They need to go to the forest."

"I'll take care of that!" called a voice from the back. The cats turned to see a lanky black tom shoulder his way to the front. His purple eyes gleamed in the darkness as he licked his lips. The hair on his head was a little long and had grown to resemble a palm tree. "I'll make sure they leave that Twoleg house. It's not hard to kill a kittypet- especially a she-cat."

There was silence from the tom on the rock. "Good. Everyone else will carry on as before," he finally said, gazing down at the seven black shapes below him. "Someone will have to keep an eye on the two kits. I don't want any harm coming to them. At least, not yet."

"I can do that," replied the she-cat, eyes flashing dangerously. "I'll make sure nothing happens to them."

"…I'm going with my Lustsoul," whimpered a tom from the side. He was black as well, but was easily the fattest cat in the forest. A glob of drool rolled out of his mouth, causing a couple of groans and snickers to come from the other cats. The fat tom's eyes had no pupils, but they watered at the taunts thrown from the others. He stuck his paw in his mouth and whimpered again.

"SILENCE!" roared the tom on the rock, eyes blazing. Instant silence fell upon the assembled cats and they all looked up. "It is settled then. Lustsoul and Gluttonysoul will watch the kits. Envysoul," he mewed, now addressing the lanky tom, "You go with them and do your part. Everyone else will go to their stations and wait. Understood?" he asked, claws raking on the rock.

"Yes, Father," answered the seven cats below with one voice. They sat in a semicircle, a ring of black shapes and purple eyes.

"Good. Soon, everything will be ready. Then nothing will stop us from taking all the Clans. When that day comes, DrachmaClan, AmestrisClan, XingClan, and IshbalClan will crumble. Even if someone discovers our plan, it will be too late. For soon, I will have a paw in every Clan!" roared the tom, victory pouring off of him in waves.

The cats below broke into yowls of agreement, then as one, vanished into the bushes to do their appointed tasks, leaving the golden tom alone in the faint moonlight.

"You fool, Immortalsoul. You think you can save the Clans by running? You are a fool indeed, my friend. For soon, everything you know and love will be gone- starting with your mate…"

A cloud passed in front of the moon as his words trailed off, coating the clearing in darkness. When it revealed the moon again, the clearing was empty. Where the tom had gone, only he knew.

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**So what do you think? Tell me, or I won't post any more chapters. I want 3 reviews before I post Chapter 1, mkays? I'll be happy to answer any questions you have! Oh, and the story does get better. I promise. Action coming!**


	2. Innocence Ended

**Well, here's Chapter 1! I got more reviews than I thought I would, and I would like to thank you guys for reviewing. It makes me feel really special, and I hope I can live up to your expectations. .**

**Ah, yes, I dedicate this chapter to Nighteh. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YOU FORK!**

**So here's Chapter 1, please enjoy! I know I promised action in this chapter, but it didn't come. Next chapter will be full of action and angst, though. Hooray!**

**Oh yeah, I don't own FMA or Warriors because if I did, Havoc would do alchemy, and Tigerstar would rule the forest. (I like doing these, can you tell?)

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"…Brother? Brother, wake up!" mewed a voice, tearing through the bliss that came with dreaming. The golden tom twitched and rolled over, trying to get away from the voice and go back to sleep. Sleep had large mounds of food that never ended. Real life didn't.

However, the owner of the voice wasn't about to give up. "Brother! Mom says to get up, so get up!" he mewed again, this time, poking the elder in side.

"Alright! I'm up, already!" hissed the golden tom, cracking open his matching golden eyes to glare at his little brother, who simply stared back, innocence written all over his face.

As soon as the elder was awake, the other scuttled off, clearly to his mother, who was sitting by the food bowl, her green eyes warm as she licked the younger's head.

Metalkit huffed. Who did Soulkit think he was, always waking him up? Slowly, the tom got to his paws and stretched. He shook himself, golden fur fluffing out as he padded across the floor of the Twoleg home he, his brother, and their mother lived in.

The food was already in the bowl, and Metalkit poked at the brown, mushy lump with his grey front paw. That paw was what had earned him the name of 'Metal,' according to his mother. His back left leg was grey as well: from foot to knee. The front right leg was grey to the shoulder. His brother, on the other hand, was more of a dirty blond; his eyes were grey.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," mewed his mother, Trisha, as she gave him a lick on the head as well. "Eat your breakfast, okay?"

Metalkit nodded and began to inhale the mush, though he noticed that his brown-furred mother was rather pre-occupied. She kept pausing in mid-chew to stare into space.

"What's that matter, Mom?" asked Soulkit, eyes wide with worry.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. When you're done, go play at Winry's," she mewed, quickly finishing her breakfast. Her two sons did the same and quickly left, leaping over the low bushes that separated the Twoleg homes.

Winry was a kittypet that lived a couple of houses down. She was roughly the same age as Metalkit and Soulkit, so they spent a lot of time playing together.

That, and Winry's grandmother, Greysmoke, knew their father, Immortalsoul. The two had met out in the forest, before they had left to settle down and have families. At least, that's what their mother told them. Immortalsoul wasn't around anymore, and Greysmoke wouldn't talk about it. She hated the forest, and she hated Immortalsoul for "ditching his family for no good reason."

Metalkit also knew that the cats of the forest, the Clans, had names with two parts, like Greysmoke's and Immortalsoul's. The second part of the name changed as the cat aged. First it was "kit" when they were born, then "paw", when they became apprentices, be it in healing, fighting, tracking, or something of the like. Then, when they had completed their apprenticeship, another part to add onto the first part of the name. Both parts of the name were supposed to represent the cat that bore them. Trisha had told her sons that their father had named them in that way. Greysmoke's son and his mate, who had been taken away by the Twolegs, had decided to name their daughter in the kittypet style. So Winry had earned her name that way.

With a grunt, Metalkit lashed his tail. The chance that he and Soulkit would ever get a mentor for anything was slim, so why did that bastard name them this way? Soulkit caught his brother's annoyance and nudged him. "What's the matter?" he asked, eyes worried.

Metalkit shrugged and glanced up at his younger sibling. Yes, up, as much as he hated to admit it. Soulkit was taller, even though he was younger. Metalkit had always assumed his brother had had a freakish growth spurt or something. He wasn't short, dammit!

Soon, Winry's house came into view, and the brothers slipped under the fence and into the garden. Metalkit hung back, ears flat, as Soulkit scurried up to the door and began to scratch at it. The gold and grey tom had never been fond of the Twoleg houses; the forest seemed much better. Even though all he had ever heard of it was stories about how the four Clans tore each other apart about every little thing. He had considered running away to join them once during a fight with Soulkit, but Winry had smacked him with some metal thing she found, and Greysmoke told him that if he joined, he'd be nothing more than a tool of war, killing other cats for no good reason. So Metalkit had pushed the idea out of his head and stayed.

Soon, Soulkit and Winry came tearing towards Metalkit and the golden she-cat leaped and tackled the shorter tom in greeting. "Hey Metalkit!" she exclaimed, tail whisking back and forth in excitement, her blue eyes wide.

"Hey, Winry," he mewed back, voice muffled, as his face was smashed into the ground. He kicked wildly, trying to get free before he ate any more dirt. There was a snicker and the weight on his back disappeared, so he quickly scrambled to his feet, a scowl on his face. "What was that for?!" he hissed, shaking himself furiously.

Winry giggled. "Oh, nothing. You're just easy to knock over," she responded happily.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SMALL SO SMALL THAT THEY CAN BE SQUISHED IN THE DIRT??!" yowled Metalkit, fur on end and golden eyes blazing with fury. How dare she imply anything about his height? She and Soulkit were just freakishly tall!

All the while, Soulkit had been watching the two blondes, a large sweatdrop forming on the back of his head. "Um, hey, can we do something now?" he asked. Watching Winry and Brother having a fight was boring. They did it everyday.

Metalkit was still bristling and glaring daggers at Winry, who simply ignored him. "Sure! Let's go down to the lake," she mewed, licking a paw, before glaring at a certain gold and grey tom.

Soulkit beamed. "Great! C'mon, Brother, stop being angry," he mewed to Metalkit, poking him on the shoulder with a tiny claw. Metalkit scowled, but Soulkit stuck his bottom lip out in a pout in retaliation. This always worked.

Sure enough, Metalkit sighed and dropped the attitude. "Fine, let's go," he grumbled, padding off towards the lake, tail lashing back and forth in anger over his defeat.

Winry rolled her eyes and followed the small tom, Soulkit hard on her heels. It seemed like everything was perfect, but it really wasn't. With Immortalsoul gone, their mother had obviously hit some kind of depression point. No cat could hide that from either of the brothers. Metalkit had never been fond of their father, and he could remember him. Soulkit couldn't. After all, he had left almost as soon as Soulkit had been born.

But they tried to act like nothing was wrong. They played a lot together, usually resulting in a fight over something (usually Metalkit and his height), and Trisha would have to step in. But that was the only disquiet in the family. The subject of Immortalsoul never came up, but when it did, it was dropped quickly. No one liked to talk about it.

Soulkit grinned as his brother and Winry began a wrestling match, right on the banks of the crystal clear lake. He wasn't as strong as either, as Winry threw metal stuff around in her spare time, and Metalkit had always just been better. So, the two of them always had fights.

A brisk wind picked up as the two blonde fur balls rolled around, yowling insults about height and the habit of throwing metal objects. Soulkit rolled his eyes and settled down in the grass to watch. It was entertaining, as long as neither of them actually hurt each other. And the insults were funny.

"Bring it on, you midget! You're not worth my energy!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SMALL SO SMALL THEY DON'T NEED A LOT OF ENERGY TO BE MOVED, YOU METAL-THROWING FEMALE?!"

"BRING IT SHORTY!"

"I'M NOT SMALL, DAMMIT!"

The yelling escalated, causing Soulkit to wince as their shrieked insults got higher and higher in pitch. This was a new record for them. Getting annoyed, Soulkit narrowed his eyes at them as an idea came to him. Hmmm. Time for a little sneak attack.

The grass was tall where he was, so Soulkit dropped to a clumsy crouch and began to stalk forward, a mischievous grin on his normally innocent face. The shouted insults were almost unbearable by the time he reached them, still concealed. With satisfaction, he realized the pair was really close to the lake.

The tom tensed, and then leaped, plowing right into his brother and Winry as they reared on their hind legs to smack each other. There were two extremely surprised yowls as the pair was flung into the lake, a cascade of water defying gravity for a moment before crashing back down, soaking Soulkit to the bone.

He didn't notice. The dirty blonde tom rolled on his side, laughing his lungs out, as Winry and Metalkit struggled in the water, obviously ready to kill him.

"Soulkit! What was that for?!" yowled Winry as she scrambled onto the bank, fur hanging limply. Metalkit floundered out behind her, looking extremely small with his fur plastered on his body. He scowled and shook himself, sending more water on Soulkit and Winry.

Soulkit stopped laughing long enough to smile sheepishly at the two. They simply glared back. Suddenly, Metalkit twitched. "C'mere! You're in for it!" he yowled and leaped at his younger brother, who let out a squeak and bolted for home, and Trisha. She would save him from the evil Metalkit.

He could hear Metalkit thundering behind them as they dashed through the grass, Winry yowling at them to slow down and wait for her.

Soon, the large house was visible and Soulkit slid to slow down so he could squeeze under the fence. Obviously, Metalkit saw his brother's idea and plowed into him, sending the two rolling down the hill in front of the house.

"Hey! Brother, no fair!" mewed Soulkit, dislodging himself from the furious tom's grasp.

Metalkit grunted. "Whatever. Let's get inside where it's warmer," he muttered as a breeze blew, making all three of the soaked cats shiver.

"Sounds good to me," replied Soulkit, leading the way under the fence. At least there wouldn't be a fight. No one would remember this in a day or so.

Soulkit was right, no one would remember this. But for a reason he could have never imagined.

The three entered the garden, snickering at each other as dirt clung to their wet pelts. Metalkit padded to the house first, head high as he left a trail of muddy paw prints. Soulkit was right behind him, and slammed into his brother when the elder stopped suddenly, eyes wide.

Immediately terrified, Soulkit followed his brother's gaze to the door, which, to his horror, was wide open. That door was never open.

The next thing Soulkit knew, Metalkit was bolting off, Winry following slowly. Soulkit whimpered and followed, a dead weight forming in his stomach. Something wasn't right.

Again, he almost collided with Metalkit, who had stopped in the doorway. All he could make out was a lump on the floor in the dimly lit room, but Metalkit obviously saw something else.

"GET OFF OF HER, YOU BASTARD!" roared Metalkit suddenly, flinging himself at the lump. There was a startled hiss and a shape broke away from the mound on the floor, claws skidding on the wood of the house.

The cat snickered. He was black from head to tail, with odd purple eyes and the fur on his head resembled a palm tree. The tom was lanky, and an amused smile covered his face. "Oops, caught in the act. Silly me," he said, tail waving over his head.

Soulkit blinked. Caught in the act of what? His question was answered when his eyes adjusted to the dimness of the room and he could identify the motionless lump on the floor.

"MOM!"

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**Well, there it is! Chapter 1! Hope you enjoyd it. Sorry if it was kinda boring. I'm not so good at beginnings. Please review, give me advice! I'm thinking of writing a sequel to this, if it's a success. I already have a plot in mind. -evil plotting look- **


	3. The Plan Begins

**Well. I didn't get any reviews for the last chapter. (Unless someone reviews as I post this o.O) I have to say, I'm disappointed, and I had a hard time writing this chapter. Sorry if it's kinda weird, but I tried. I need reviews to function, people. It's like coffee. XD Please review this time, kays? **

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Everything seemed to come screeching to a halt for Soulkit as soon as the words left his mouth. No. Mom couldn't be dead… "NO!" he yowled as he bolting to the lump of brown fur and began to furiously nudge it. "Mom! Mom, get up!" he wailed, voice beginning to rise in pitch with each word.

The tom's wails seemed to snap Metalkit back into reality. The small tom growled loudly and pounced at the black cat, eyes blazing with a fury Soulkit had never seen before.

The lanky tom hissed and dodged, only to deliver a sharp kick to Metalkit's face before the kittypet landed, sending him crashing into the wall.

Soulkit gasped and began to move to his brother, but Winry was already streaking through the door, teeth bared in a snarl as she ran for black cat.

The intruding tom seemed rather annoyed at the new attacker. "Come on! You kittypets can't possibly expect to defeat me," he snarled, easily dodging Winry's attack, and sticking out a foot, tripping the she-cat. He quickly spun and raised a paw to slash at her, pupils narrowing to slits in obvious enjoyment.

"WINRY!" Soulkit wailed, dashing to her aid. Metalkit still hadn't moved; he was a lump of gold and grey fur that twitched from the shock of impact. When had everything gone so_ wrong_? _Why_ had everything gone the way it had? What had they _done_ to deserve this?

For the first time in his life, Soulkit could say he was ready to kill. He had never been a big fan of fighting, as he wasn't very good at it. He hated it when he saw an animal die- from the occasional mouse his brother caught, to the animals that lay on the side of the road, killed by the roaring monsters of the Twolegs. But right at that moment, Soulkit was ready to rip out the throat of this cat and do it with pleasure.

He yowled and pounced, landing right on the tom's back and throwing him off balance. The black tom hissed as his head smacked on the floor and the two scrambled around for a moment, a determined Soulkit clamped on his back. Without thinking, Soulkit opened his jaws and sank his teeth into the flesh of the tom's neck, causing the intruder to let out a sharp wail.

But that had been a bad move. Pissed to seeing spots, the tom rammed into the wall, taking Soulkit by surprise and knocking him off his opponent's back. He landed with a thunk and groaned.

The intruding tom let out a light laugh. "This was too easy. You kittypets are way too docile to do any real damage. It's a miracle you three even managed to live this long," he smirked, tail waving. "Really, you're lucky I didn't kill you. I've got orders to let you live. Don't see why, though. You're nothing special. Although, you did put up a better fight than she did," the tom added, glancing over at Trisha's unmoving form, disdain written all over his face. "Ah, well. Nice meeting you three. I suppose we'll meet again. Later, shrimp," he spat at Metalkit before trotting out the door.

The tom would have made it out unharmed, had he not added that last comment about a certain tom's size.

"I'M NOT A SHRIMP, DAMMIT!" roared Metalkit, shooting after the tom, whose jaw had dropped open about a foot, obviously surprised at the violent reaction that one word had caused.

The next thing anyone knew, Metalkit rammed into the black tom, sending the pair of them flying through the door and out into the Twoleg garden.

Soulkit gasped and struggled to his paws and ran to the door, Winry already there. The sounds of yowling and screeching met the younger tom's ears as he stopped in the doorway. Metalkit and the rouge were going all-out, claws flashing and the crimson color of blood forming puddles on the ground.

"YOU BASTARD! KILLING MY MOTHER THEN CALLING ME SHORT!!!!"

"Oh, shut up! I have better things to do than fight you! And I didn't call you short. I called you a _shrimp_."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU PALM TREE!!!"

"What did you call me, shorty?"

The two toms broke apart at that moment as Metalkit delivered a slash to the tom's throat. They both landed hard, breathing heavy. Metalkit's grey shoulder was torn and bleeding, and there were various scratches along his left side. The rouge wasn't much better off. There were various cuts all over his body, and his newly received neck wound was bleeding heavily. Both seemed wary to continue the fight, but then, neither wanted to back down.

From the doorway, Soulkit let out a whimper and stared. He'd never expected anything like this to ever happen to them. What had happened to the days when their biggest fear was running into something while chasing each other?

The black tom frowned, and then took a step back, his purple eyes gleaming with hate. "Fine, you win this little fight. But you'll be hearing from me again, you can count your life on it," he spat, hackles raised. He lashed his tail and made a dash for the fence, leaping on it, then jumping down.

The three left in the garden were silent, all trying to absorb what had just happened. Metalkit groaned and sat with a thunk, head hanging as he gasped for breath.

"Brother!" exclaimed Soulkit as he dashed over to the elder's side. "Brother, are you alright?" he asked, eyes wide. Metalkit looked like he'd been hit by one of the Twoleg monsters. Some of the wounds were scabbing, but most were still bleeding.

Metalkit cracked open an eye and glared at his younger brother. "Just peachy, Soulkit. You think I'm alright?!" he hissed, a temple throbbing on his forehead in agitation. After letting out a muttered curse that involved a palm tree, he stiffly rose to his paws, a grimace on his face.

"Brother, I don't think you should be moving, you're still bleeding," Soulkit mewed quickly, trying to push Metalkit back down. But of course, Metalkit refused to listen, and shoved himself away, stalking around the small garden stiffly, just to prove he was fine.

"You should listen to your brother, Metalkit. You'll aggravate those wounds and make them last longer if you walk around like that," called a voice from the other side of the garden. Soulkit turned to see Greysmoke stalking across the Twoleg garden to Metalkit, who was blinking confusedly at her.

"Greysmoke, how'd you get here so fast?" he asked as the elderly grey she-cat began to examine him with her small black eyes.

A smirk crossed Greysmoke's face. "Winry came and got me. Told me everything," she said, prodding Metalkit's grey shoulder, smirk now replaced with a frown.

The tom stiffened, at Greysmoke's words. "…Everything?" he asked quietly, golden eyes fixed firmly on the ground, ears flat on his head.

Greysmoke stopped her examination to nod. "Yes. Now, you two get to my place. I'll fix you up there," she mewed, nudging Metalkit to get him walking. There was a resistant grunt from the blonde, but a firm whack on the injured shoulder got him moving.

Soulkit bounded up next to his brother, who had his eyes planted firmly on the ground in front of them. Neither said a word as they plodded through the Twoleg gardens, Greysmoke bringing up the rear. Soon, the trio entered Greysmoke's garden, where they met Winry. Her blue eyes were wide, but she led them inside without a word as well.

Once inside, Greysmoke began to tend to Metalkit's wounds, mashing various berries and leaves that Winry brought from somewhere else in the house together and placing the mixtures on the wounds. The tom suddenly turned to look at her. "Hey, how do you know about all of these healing herbs?"

Greysmoke patted a lump of yellow mush onto the last of Metalkit's wounds before stepping back and raising an eyebrow at the tom. She sighed and sat down, pushing the pile of herbs out of the way. "Well, you two both know I'm from AmistrisClan," she said, her voice going cold. "And lay down, Metalkit. I don't want you aggravating your wounds."

Metalkit meekly obeyed, stretching out on the wooden floor. Soulkit padded up next to him, determined to make sure that his older brother listened. That and he wanted to hear Greysmoke's story. She never talked about her life in AmistrisClan. This was clearly an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to be honest.

Greysmoke licked a paw before starting. "I was born and raised in AmistrisClan. Nothing special about that. But, I wasn't interested in being a warrior. I didn't want to have to guard the camp, patrol the borders, catch prey, or engage in the fights with the other Clans. I was more interested in healing. So I became the apprentice for Redsoul, the current medicine cat. That's pretty much how life went- I learned herbs, what mixtures of certain herbs and such did, what to do incase of overdoses… That's how things were for a while.

"Then our border with IshbalClan became a war zone. Tensions had always been high with that Clan. None of the AmistrisClan cats liked the dark-furred, red-eyed members of IshbalClan. As you can guess, a war broke out. It was a full-fledged clash. Every cat old enough to fight went to the border to fight. Bladestar was intent on winning the war, so he sent Redsoul out to the border to heal on the lines. I had to stay at the camp and tend to things there. Bladestar only kept his elite warriors back. They held the other borders secure.

"You'd never forget those cats, the elite warriors. They were the toughest, strongest cats you ever saw. Ironblood was deputy at the time, and deputy is always held by the strongest of the elite. He was a nasty character, that Ironblood. With him in the elite ranks was Strongarm, Crystalshard, Crimsondeath, and Snapfire, the newest addition. After a while, our death rate started to get out of hand, so Bladestar sent in all his elite warriors. I don't know what they did, but the desert territory of IshbalClan was destroyed in a matter of days. None of them died, and the territory was ours. It was still a separate Clan, but only to keep XingClan and DrachmaClan satisfied.

"After that, I'd pretty much had it with Clan life. There were rumors flying that Bladestar wanted to attack DrachmaClan, and I knew I wouldn't be able to take Clan life anymore. By that point I had met your father, and he was the one who finally convinced me to leave. So I left, leaving Redsoul behind.

"We came to the Twoleg homes and decided to move in, and you know the rest. Your father met Trisha, and the rest is history," Greysmoke concluded. She frowned down at Metalkit and Soulkit. "Why did you want to know?"

Metalkit shifted to his paws, golden eyes narrowed with determination. "I was just curious, really. And no one's ever told me the whole story," he mewed.

Soulkit frowned. His brother was hiding something. He could tell from the elder's eyes. Soulkit's own grey eyes narrowed curiously. His brother was plotting something, he could tell, and he would find out.

"Now, I want you boys to spend the night here. I don't want you to start bleeding or anything. Got that?" Greysmoke ordered, pointing a paw towards one of the large beds.

Metalkit instantly opened his mouth to argue, but a growl from Greysmoke stopped him before he could say anything. He grunted and curled into a ball on the pillow.

Soulkit sighed and glanced stared at the floor, suddenly overwhelmed by everything that had happened. It had all gone by so quickly… Maybe it was a dream? Maybe Mom wasn't dead, maybe Brother wasn't beaten up, and maybe that black rouge had never showed up at all. He lifted his gaze to Greysmoke, and all of his wishes of the day being a dream were shattered. The horror and grief in the grey she-cat's eyes was enough to bring tears to Soulkit's own. He quickly leaping into the bed next to his brother, but couldn't help but notice that the pillow was wet where Metalkit's head was. Quietly, the younger curled up next to his brother, burying his head into the other's neck fur.

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"Nice show you put on there," mewed a black she-cat to the lanky black tom as he scrambled up the tree to sit next to her on the branch.

"Yeah, well, it's not like it's hard to kill a kittypet," he smirked, purple eyes straying back to the Twoleg house he had just exited. "Honestly, though, the shrimp put up more of a fight that I thought he would," he muttered licking a wound on his side.

"Well, what did you expect, Envysoul? He is Immortalsoul's son," replied the she-cat, her thick fur dancing in the brisk wind that had suddenly picked up. A rumble of thunder erupted not far off.

"I don't give a damn. He's lucky that Father wants him alive, otherwise I'd have ripped apart his small body!" hissed Envysoul, fur bristling.

"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll be able to kill him once he's done what he needs to do. Then everything will fall into place… Do you have a plan for chasing him out into the forest?"

There was silence from the tom. "Uh. Well, I'm still working on that, Lustsoul," he snapped, glaring furiously at the branch he was sitting on. "Hey, where's Gluttonysoul?" he asked suddenly, looking around. He didn't like not knowing where that fat tom was.

"Oh, he's off eating some kittypets. It was the only thing that would keep him from eating the tree," Lustsoul replied, gazing at the Twoleg house where Metalkit and Soulkit were currently lodging. "You'd better come up with something quick, Envysoul. Father doesn't want to wait any longer to stop the prophecy."

A haughty snort erupted from Envysoul. "If that old man wanted it bad enough, he'd go and do all this crap himself! I can take all the time I want," he hissed, long strands of greenish-black hair swirling around his face in the strengthening wind.

A bolt of lightning split the air, illuminating the landscape for a brief moment. It was followed almost immediately by a rumble of thunder that crashed through the sensitive ears of the two black cats, causing both to wince.

"So come up with any plans to chase the kittypets out yet?" asked Lustsoul once her ears had stopped ringing. A smirk crossed her face, purple eyes shining in the darkness.

"Actually, yes. You see, the short one's bent on killing me. I can tell. He'll go into the forest to try and find me, or to find someone who knows where I can be found. There's where Slothsoul comes in. She and Pridesoul can lead him along. It doesn't matter if the other follows him or not. All we need is the Metalshrimp in the forest," Envysoul replied, flashing a toothy grin.

"Did I hear my name?"

"GAH! Who the hell-?!" hissed Envysoul, leaping up from his sitting position, shaking the branch dangerously. Lustsoul let out a screech and sunk her claws into the branch for dear life. It was a long way to the ground.

"Calm down! It's just me," mewed the voice, which belonged to a black she-cat. She was slimmer than most cats, and her purple eyes had a kind of detached, indifferent look in them.

"Oh, Slothsoul. You surprised us. I didn't know you were coming out this way," replied Lustsoul, dislodging her claws from the branch.

"Yes, well, I thought I'd give you an update on AmestrisClan. But first, how was the raid, Envysoul?" Slothsoul asked, turning her gaze to the tom, who was still clinging to the branch with wide eyes.

At her question, he snarled and sat up straight. "It went fine! Everything's going perfectly! Now, what's the news from AmestrisClan?" he spat, furious with himself for being scared shitless by a she-cat.

Slothsoul sighed. "Ironblood was killed yesterday," she said, claws digging into the branch.

"WHAT?" hissed Lustsoul, eyes wide. Envysoul's jaw dropped and he sputtered something unintelligible.

"How? How did big bad Ironblood bite the dust?" he finally managed to ask, still shocked. Ironblood was the last cat he would have expected to die. No cat had a prayer against that massive brown and black tom.

"A loner brained him right in front of an entire patrol. From what witnesses say, there wasn't much of a fight. The loner leaped down from a tree in front of Ironblood and just drilled his claws right through his skull. He was dead in a second," Slothsoul explained, a frown forming across her face.

A low moan escaped Lustsoul, while Envysoul simply shook his head. "That's insane. Who's this loner? Does he have a name?" he asked.

Slothsoul shrugged. "He ran off before anyone could really talk to him. He's big- big as Ironblood. But that's not all- he has brown fur and red eyes."

"A survivor of the IshbalClan massacre!" gasped Lustsoul, ears twitching uncertainly. "I heard rumors that some survived, but I honestly didn't think they were true."

"Well, they're true. He was in the war, apparently. He's got an X-shaped shaped scar on his forehead," responded the slim she-cat coldly. "We call him Scar."

"That's _such _a creative name," Envysoul muttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he sprawled on the branch, legs dangling off. "Couldn't you have come up with something a little better than that? Come on, be creative."

"Oh shut up. I don't see you getting those kittypets out of their house!" hissed Slothsoul, fur bristling.

There was a crack of lightning and all three winced and large drops of rain began to break free from the clouds, bringing thunder rolling in behind them. There was a whimper from below the tree, and soon the branch shook again as another cat arrived.

"Lustsoul! The loud noise is scary!" whimpered the tom, pushing his way next to the long-furred she-cat. His pupil-less eyes watered and he stuck his paw in his mouth.

"It's alright, Gluttonysoul. We'll be leaving soon," she reassured the rotund tom as another bolt of lightning crashed not far away.

There was a tense silence as the four sat on the tree branch. "Well, I see my job's done for now. Now if you'll excuse me…" Slothsoul mewed, turning to go.

"Woah! Hold on, a moment," Envysoul called, getting to his paws again. Slothsoul paused, throwing the lanky tom a curious glance. "Who's the new deputy now?" he asked.

A look that was a mix of horror and hilarity crossed the she-cat's face. "It's Snapfire," she spat, fur bristling.

Evnysoul's jaw dropped for the umpteenth time that day. Today was just full of surprises. "You're joking. That cat has the worst god complex I've ever seen!"

Slothsoul growled. "I know. I have to listen to him everyday," she muttered, tail lashing back and forth. "So, you're sure that you're plan to lure Metalkit out into the forest will work?"

Envysoul opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by another explosion of lightning. The other three cats clenched their eyes shut against the flash, but Envysoul's were wide with amazement. His jaw hung open as well as he took in the sight before him.

The Twoleg house that Metalkit and Soulkit had been living in had been struck by the bolt of lightning. The entire roof was blazing, and as he watched, it began to spread down the building. There was a screeching groan and part of the roof caved in with a shower of sparks.

A chuckle escaped the tom's mouth, and a demonic smirk dominated his face. "Oh, my plan will work, all right. Especially now. Let's go. Our job is done; all we do is wait."

* * *

**Well, there you have it! Chapter 2! Please review or I won't update! Or I will, just not for a long time. -- So you know, please review. **

**Oh, and if you have any questions about names or places, please feel free to ask. I have to have a list to keep everything straight. XD**


	4. The New Deputy and Wreckage

**Wow. I didn't reailize that it's been so long since the last update. I'm SO SO SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING SOONER! I don't really have any excuse besides that I was lazy and then school started and I've been super busy. So again, sorry for making you guys wait.**

**Hopefully you haven't given up on me and can enjoy my big long list of good news.**

**I've edited the first three chapters slightly; the Clans are now AmestrisClan, DrachmaClan, XingClan, and IshbalClan for easier reading and stuff. This fic is now a Warriors instead of FMA because there are more Warriors aspects. The summary was changed to clarify the plot better. **

**But I'm sure you're tired of reading about all of this, so on with the fic! (I don't own FMA or Warriors)**

* * *

"So, what do you think of Snapfire's new rank in the Clan?"

"Honestly, I think Bladestar could have picked a more experienced cat for deputy," mewed a golden she-cat as she sharpened one of her claws on the rock she was perched on. Around her were four other toms, all lounging on the various rocks that littered the riverbank.

"Oh, come on, Hawkeye! Give Snapfire a chance. You know he does his work when he wants to," responded a sandy tom who had asked the question earlier. The stick he held in his mouth wiggled thoughtfully as he glanced around the area. It wouldn't do to be overheard.

"He only does his work when I hold my claws to his neck," growled Hawkeye, pausing in her sharpening to examine her handy work. The toms watched her warily, all knowing from experience how sharp those claws were.

Next to the sandy tom was an older tom, grey with age. "Well, Snapfire sure seemed like the best choice. Think about it. Crystalshard's too old to be deputy, Crimsondeath hasn't been known to be exactly reliable to the Clan, and Strongarm isn't exactly the most ferocious cat out there," he reasoned, shrugging a little.

The sandy tom nodded. "Greyfur's right. Bladestar needed to do what would be best for AmestrisClan," he said, clearly agreeing. Hawkeye merely snorted and returned to sharpening her claws, ignoring the toms.

"You know, that means it means more work for her, Smokestick," whispered a rotund orange tom to the sandy tom. Smokestick frowned, realizing the tom had a point. If it wasn't for Hawkeye, Snapfire would simply chase after the other she-cats in the Clan. "I suppose you're right, Orangepelt," he whispered back, tail waving.

The five cats slipped into silence, the only sound being Hawkeye's claws being sharpened on the rock. The sunlight filtered through the thick leaves of the trees that formed AmestrisClan territory.

And the silence would have continued, if not broken by the sounds of another cat making its way through the underbrush. Hawkeye froze in her work, ears forward and locked in the direction of the cat. The four toms shifted uneasily, as the wind was blowing the scent away from them and they couldn't tell who it was.

"HEY GUYS!" yowled the cat that leaped out of the bushes, right behind the smallest member of the group, a black tom with a white chest. He let out a terrified squeak and shot off, skidding to a halt behind Smokestick.

"Ivorydagger! Stop doing that!" growled Hawkeye, leaping off her rock to stalk over to the new arrival. "Did you have to creep up on us like that?"

The tom tilted his head, obviously put out by the scolding. "Aw, come on, Hawkeye, lighten up! I didn't mean to scare Timidheart," he said, waving a paw dismissively.

Hawkeye simply scowled. "That's not the point! Are you out in the forest for business? Today was your day to guard the camp, unless I'm mistaken," she growled testily, teeth bared to show her displeasure.

Ivorydagger pouted before shaking himself as if to rid himself of Hawkeye's glare. "Well, of course I come with news! You'll be just thrilled to hear it! Sweetkit finally learned to walk today! She was wobbling all over the nursery, pouncing on pieces of moss and sticks! It was just _so_ adorable! She's going to be the most beautiful cat in all four of the Clans and all the toms will want her! Oh, she's just _so darling_!" he cooed, a grin plastered on his face as he began to hum. The tom's eyes shone with the recollections of his daughter scampering about and being all-around adorable.

While Ivorydagger was beside himself with happiness, the other cats were nothing short of annoyed. Timidheart sweatdropped, Greyfur sighed, Orangepelt rolled his eyes, and Smokestick felt his eye twitching. Hawkeye, however, decided to be verbal about her exasperation.

"IVORYDAGGER! No one cares about that! No get back to the camp before one of the higher-ups find you out here, abusing your duty!" she yowled.

Ivorydagger snapped out of his daydream and took a couple of steps backwards, obviously shocked at the outburst. "What? What do you mean, you don't care? How can you _not_ care about my darling Sweetkit?!" he asked, a loving look crossing his face just at the mention of his daughter's name. "Oh, I know. None of you have ever had any luck with the opposite gender, so you're all jealous of my success," the black tom concluded suddenly, nodding to himself as if that solved the matter. He gave them a cheery flick of the tail before turning and vanishing back into the woods.

Hawkeye let out a low growl at the tom's retreating back before stalking over to her rock to resume sharpening her claws. The other four toms eyed her nervously, all keeping silent as they watched the she-cat go about her business, grumbling angrily. Then Greyfur spoke up.

"We really should be getting back to the camp ourselves. It's almost time for the shift change, and we don't want to be late."

There were grunts of agreement from the other toms, who all slowly got up from their comfortable positions. Hawkeye gave them a quick glare before padding briskly back to the camp, tail raised.

Smokestick gave his rock a longing look, wishing that he could just sleep there all day and not have to go back to guard the camp. Hopefully, he wouldn't fall asleep in the middle of duty again. With a sigh, the sandy tom followed the group, stick seeming to droop as he got closer and closer to the AmestrisClan camp.

* * *

"Brother, what are we going to do?"

The question was barely more than a whisper from the small brown tom. Soulkit's ears were flat, his eyes wide with horror and hopelessness. I had been hard enough on him that his mother had been killed, but to wake up the next day to find his home burned down?

Really, it was disheartening.

While Soulkit hadn't bothered to hide his feelings over the current situation, Metalkit had simply stared at the smoldering remains, not a flicker of any emotion on his face. Soulkit had a feeling his brother was thinking, and thinking hard. Soulkit's first thought had been that they could stay with Greysmoke and Winry, but the Twolegs they lived with might not want two more cats in their nest.

Soulkit shot another glance at his brother, who was still staring stoically forward, eyes glazed over in thought. Knowing he wasn't going to get any answers out of the gold and grey tom until the elder decided he would talk, Soulkit turned his gaze back to the rubble that they were sitting in front of. The two older Twolegs that he and his brother had lived with were carefully stepping around in the charred remnants, turning hunks of burnt wood or furniture over, trying to find what they could to salvage. The Twoleg kits were seated in one of the monsters, the elder one wearing an expression similar to Metalkit's as she tried to comfort the two younger kits, both of whom were wailing something terrible.

The brown kit shifted unhappily. They had been out there all morning; since they woke up, in fact. Greysmoke had seen the Twoleg nest get struck by lightning during the storm, and had told the brothers as soon as they had woken up. Metalkit and Soulkit had darted out of the nest and to where their own nest used to stand and had been there since. It was reaching sunhigh and Soulkit's stomach gave an undignified growl.

This seemed to snap Metalkit out of his thoughts, and he turned to Soulkit with a surprised expression on his face. "You know, you could go eat," he said, clearly wondering why his younger brother hadn't realized that himself.

Soulkit tilted his head and gave his brother an annoyed look. "I would have, but I was worried about you. You looked like you died on your paws."

"Ah, I was just thinking."

"Thinking about what?"

"…Stuff. Hey, let's go get something to eat over a Winry's okay?" Metalkit said, abruptly changing the topic as he turned and began to trot back to the Twoleg nest that Winry and Greysmoke lived in. Soulkit sighed, knowing Metalkit wasn't going to spill anything until he was ready.

The pair entered the Twoleg nest to find Winry waiting for them. As soon as they were both inside, she dashed over, nearly colliding with Metalkit, who managed to step out of the way.

"Metalkit! Soulkit! I was wondering when you guys would get back here! You've been out there all day!" she exclaimed, glaring at them as if spending time outside was against the law.

"Well, we're back now!" growled Metalkit as his stomach gave a displeased rumble. Winry raised an eyebrow and Metalkit shifted, embarrassed.

"Come on, then. The Twolegs left enough food for all of us," she mewed, giving Metalkit an exasperated look before trotting off to the kitchen, the two toms following behind her.

On the kitchen floor were two bowls piled high with the mush that the Twolegs were so fond of feeding cats. Greysmoke was already helping herself and Winry padded over to her grandmother's bowl. Soulkit and Metalkit seated themselves next to the other bowl and began to eat and silence stretched out between the four cats. Soulkit forced himself to eat, not being hungry in the least. Metalkit, on the other paw, had no problem finishing his portion of the meal.

"Do you have any plans?" The question came from Greysmoke suddenly, and the three young cats stared at her in surprise. The elderly she-cat was staring at Metalkit, who had that determined, nothing-is-going-to-change-my-mind look on his face.

The tom took another bite of the mush before nodding his head. "Yeah, I do. I've heard rumors about a loner who managed to stake out her own territory. She's supposed to be as strong as the Clan cats. I want to be trained by her and learn to fight."

Greysmoke's eyes narrowed, as if she was sensing there was more to this. "And why do you want to learn to fight?" she asked, sitting up taller so that she was eye-to-eye with the golden tom.

Soulkit froze in mid-chew, eyes drifting to his brother. He hadn't been pleased about the tom's plans, and he realized he hadn't wondered _why_ his brother needed to learn that skill. Winry stopped in her own chewing to gaze at Metalkit as well.

Metalkit's eyes narrowed and dropped to the floor before he responded. "So I can kill _him_," he growled, claws unsheathing and flexing.

Soulkit knew without a doubt that his brother meant the black, lanky tom that had killed their mother. But he still felt a sick, cold horror at Metalkit's words. To think that his brother actually wanted to learn how to kill, and then use those skills on another cat… He wanted to believe that the rouge deserved getting killed, but Soulkit was such a peace-maker, he couldn't even bring himself to encourage his brother. "But Brother-"

"No! I don't care if you don't want me to, Soulkit. This is something I've got to do. You don't have to come if you don't want to, but I'm going one way or the other," the small tom growled, glaring stubbornly at his younger brother.

There was a long moment of silence in the room, and Metalkit bent down to finish off his meal. It was Soulkit who finally broke it.

"When are you leaving?" he asked quietly, staring at his paws.

The elder tom grunted and swallowed the last of the kittypet food. "Tomorrow morning. If I leave at sunrise, I should be able to get pretty far before it gets dark. I want to waste as little time as possible."

Soulkit raised his head. "Then I'm coming with you," he mewed firmly, no hint of doubt or uncertainty in his voice.

Metalkit turned his head to stare at his brother; Greysmoke and Winry were gawking at the brown tom as well. There was yet another silence, during which the two brothers stared each other down.

"No." The response from Metalkit was quiet but firm and he flicked his tail as if to brush the topic away.

But Metalkit wasn't the only one to inherit the stubbornness gene. "Yes. I'm coming with you, Brother," Soulkit replied, frowning down at the elder.

The silence stretched out between the two as Winry and Greysmoke glanced back and forth from one tom to the other. Soulkit was still glaring down at Metalkit, who was looking down at his paws.

"Fine."

The answer was so sudden and quiet that Soulkit wasn't sure that he had heard his brother correctly. "What?"

"I said 'fine'. If you're coming, we'll leave in the morning," Metalkit replied, giving his brother a I-can't-believe-you-really-want-to-do-this look.

Soulkit grinned widely. "Of course I want to go! You know we're a team and we always stick together."

Metalkit offered his brother a quick grin before Greysmoke interrupted them. "So who's this loner you're thinking of looking for?" she asked, licking a paw and watching the toms.

Metalkit had obviously done his research. "I heard some of the cats down the street talking about her. Her name's Bloodydeath and they said that she staked out her own territory to the east of AmestrisClan. If we leave tomorrow at sunrise, it should take us about two days to get there."

Greysmoke tilted her head and examined the brothers carefully. "I suppose there's no point in me to tell you that seeking revenge is pointless?" she asked dryly.

The small golden tom frowned. "I've made up my mind. How about you, Soulkit?"

Soulkit simply nodded with a determined look on his face. He was going to stick with his brother to the end.

Greysmoke let out a small sigh. "Fine. Then you should rest up. I'll wake you at sunrise."

* * *

**That's that! Chapter 4! Please review and leave any plot suggestions- you'll get a cookie. I'm now going to make a point of actually answering reviews, hooray! Not sure of the length right now, but it'll be somewhere in the teens, maybe 20s. We'll see, I guess. Not sure when the chapter will be out either. Midterms are coming up (already) and I've got a lot of studying to do. But don't give up on me!**


	5. Dreams of Then

**Yay, it's the next chapter! Thanks to all my reviewers- your reviews made me very happy.**

**And a note- I developed this plot before the Power of Three was published, so this fanfiction is going to be set at post-Sunset.**

* * *

True to her word, Greysmoke woke the two toms up right as the sun was rising. Soulkit was awake instantly, a mix of excitement and jumpiness running through his veins. They were leaving, going to train! The tom's whiskers quivered as he leaped out of the bed and began to groom.

Metalkit, however, decided that he didn't want to get up, despite how badly he had wanted to leave the other day. Greysmoke had to threaten the golden tom with one of Winry's wrenches to wake him up and get him out of bed. All through the quick meal of Twoleg mush, the small tom grumbled about the indecency of she-cats, ignoring the fact that he had agreed to being woken up that early. Soulkit decided it would be best not to say anything.

But the meal finished, and Soulkit realized with a cold, hard certainty, that he and his brother would not be returning to the Twoleg homes after they finished their mission. The young tom wasn't sure why, but a little voice in his head seemed to be telling him that this would be the last time he would see Greysmoke and Winry for a long, long time.

The brother slipped out of the cat-flap in the door, followed by Winry and her grandmother. The procession was almost solemn; Winry gazed at her paws, Greysmoke was frowning furiously, and Metalkit stared directly ahead.

The four cats reached the fence that marked the edge of the Twoleg nest. Metalkit leaped to the top with a grunt, Soulkit following with a little trouble. There was an awkward silence and the brothers exchanged uncertain glances; neither one was really sure how to say goodbye.

But Winry did the work for them. "You guys will come back and visit, won't you?" she asked, voice strained as she obviously tried to hold back tears. Metalkit grinned and flicked his tail. "Of course we will. We'll be back before you know it!" he mewed confidently. Soulkit nodded in agreement and the pair leaped off the fence to the other side, where they landed with muffled thumps in the thick grass. Soulkit shot a worried look over his shoulder, back at the Twoleg house- he couldn't help but remember that voice from earlier.

"You ready?" Metalkit asked, staring in the direction that they were headed. Soulkit snapped out of his daze and nodded, giving his brother a grin. The elder smirked back and began to trot through the grass as if he knew where he was going. Soulkit highly doubted that he did, but followed anyway. At least Metalkit was heading in the right direction; Soulkit wouldn't have been surprised if the elder had began heading west instead of east. With the rising sun in their faces, the two brothers began the journey to find Bloodydeath.

* * *

Metalkit may have gotten the direction right, but it was clear that he didn't have a clue _where_ Bloodydeath's land was. It had been three days since leaving Greysmoke and Winry's, and the two were lost.

But of course, Metalkit refused to admit it.

"We're not lost. We're going in the right direction; it'll take a while to get there. It's not like she'd stake out her land this close to the Twolegs homes," the small tom explained as he and Soulkit settled down that night under some bushes.

Soulkit could only glare at his brother. Neither one had eaten since their departure, and it was making the normally sweet-tempered tom as irritable as his brother. "Brother, stop saying that! You obviously don't have a clue where you're going. Why don't we just ask for directions?" he spat, glaring at the golden tom.

Metalkit's eyes widened, clearly surprised at Soulkit's outburst. He shuffled his paws and narrowed his eyes, as if thinking. But Soulkit knew he was half embarrassed and half ashamed of his lack of knowledge being brought out to the open.

"Sorry, Soulkit," he mumbled, ears flat as his stomach let out a loud rumble. "I'll go see if I can find something to eat," he added, getting to his paws and slipping out from under the bush. "Be right back!"

Normally Soulkit would have darted after his brother, but he'd stepped on a thorn earlier that day. He had tried to ignore it and keep going, but the combination of the sharp, stinging pain and Metalkit's constant nagging to rest finally won him over. Now that he had a break, the tom shifted to a more comfortable position and began to lick the wounded pad. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but his eyes lids began to close, slowly but surely.

* * *

Leaves crunched under his paws as the young tom gazed around. He didn't know this land, but it seemed eerily familiar. A shudder ran down his spine, causing some of his dark golden fur to stand up nervously.

Uncertain, Soulkit began to pad forward, a light mist blocking his way and making it hard to pick out what was in front of him. He could hear sounds up ahead and a strong scent of many cats was wafting towards him. As the kit neared the scent, he strained his eyes to see what was ahead.

And then the mist parted and he saw it.

In front of him was a path that led down, down into a large hole in the ground. The scent of the mass of cats was coming from the fissure in the earth, as well as the sounds. At the entrance to what was obviously a camp of some sort was a white fluffy tom, who was looking around excitedly. His tail flicked and he paced a little, as if he wanted nothing more than to bolt off to share some new piece of news.

Soulkit's gut told him to wait and simply watch in silence- the white cat in front of him had no idea that he was there and couldn't see him, so talking was pointless.

After what seemed like an hour, the sound of approaching pawsteps came to the young tom. He turned around in time to see a dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes dashing to the camp, led by a young, light-colored tabby.

The pair skidded to a halt in front of the white cat, who looked relieved to see them. "Brambleclaw! I'm glad Birchpaw was able to find you so quickly!"

Brambleclaw nodded, fighting to get his breath back. "So am I, Cloudtail. He didn't tell me anything; just that I needed to get back to the camp. ShadowClan's not attacking, are they?" he asked worriedly.

_ShadowClan? Like from the stories?_ Soulkit thought to himself. He tilted his head, curiosity starting to overcome him. He'd heard of ShadowClan and the other three Clans from Greysmoke's stories, but those stories always spoke of "StarClan", where cats went after they died. The cats then lived in the skies, as stars. But Soulkit had never seen a star; even Greysmoke hadn't. The skies had always been a dark, ominous black with only the moon for as long as any cat could remember. It was said that the Clans never really existed; the stories of Firestar and the others were simply stories to keep young kits entertained.

But then again, this was just a dream. Soulkit knew that- he was asleep under a bush while his brother went hunting. So why was he dreaming of a Clan never really existed and the cats that had supposedly lived in it? None of them were real. _This is probably my imagination working overtime,_ he thought. It was only logical that he would be dreaming about the stories from home after everything that had happened in the past couple of days.

The kit focused back on the conversation in time to see Cloudtail raise an eyebrow. "If ShadowClan was attacking, you think I'd be sitting here guarding the camp?" he asked dryly, shaking his head at the tom's complete lack of thought. "No, it's good news! Squirrelflight is having her kits!"

Brambleclaw's mouth fell open. "WHAT? The kits? NOW!?" he asked, eyes widening.

"Yes! Now, go! Squirrelflight's been screeching for you!"

The tabby nodded distractedly and bolted down the path that led into the ravine. Birchpaw and Cloudtail exchanged smug glances. "Good job, Birchpaw. Go get something to eat; I'll tell Ashfur about how well you did," mewed Cloudtail, flicking his tail in dismissal to the apprentice.

Birchpaw grinned and began to trot down the path, clearly pleased with himself for retrieving Brambleclaw so quickly. Soulkit followed, cautiously, though he knew, deep down inside, that he was in no danger here.

At the bottom of the ravine was a large open space, where many (Soulkit didn't even try to count) cats were milling, chatting excitedly and shooting eager looks to a clump of bramble and thistle which Soulkit assumed was a nest of some sort. He weaved through the cats, coming closer and closer to the nest. Once at the entrance, he paused, unsure of why exactly he was so interested in this den. Was it where Squirrelflight was having her kits? Again, his gut was telling him to go in, to go investigate.

"Excuse me. Sorry. 'Scuse me."

Soulkit turned to see a young tabby she-cat pushing her way through the crowd. Her mouth was full of what appeared to be herbs and seeds, and the assembled cats moved quickly out of her way. She padded to the entrance of the den and pushed her way in, the front part of the nest swaying slightly.

His curiosity practically burned a hole in him, so Soulkit followed, eyes slowly adjusting to the dim light. Inside was a bright orange she-cat, whose breath was ragged as she twisted painfully on the moss with her eyes squeezed shut. Next to her sat Brambleclaw, who was nudging her with his nose, apparently trying to calm the distressed she-cat. At the arrival of the herb-carrying cat, Brambleclaw looked up, amber eyes relieved. "Leafpool! I'm glad you're here," he mewed; worry starting to creep into his features.

"Leafpool, something's wrong! I can feel it!" the ginger she-cat wailed, her green eyes snapping open to gaze helplessly at Leafpool. Brambleclaw settled down beside his mate and began to lick her comfortingly on the head.

Leafpool frowned worriedly and began to nudge Squirrelflight, her amber eyes examining every inch of the she-cat. With a sigh she padded over to her bundle of herbs, which she had dropped by the entrance, and began to rummage around before returning with a single seed. Soulkit recognized it as a poppy seed, which Greysmoke had given his brother the night he had been attacked by the rouge.

Squirrelflight examined the seed distrustfully; clearly she wasn't fond of taking any form of medicine. _Just like Brother, _Soulkit thought absently.

"What is it? What's it do?" asked the ginger warrior, still glaring at the innocent seed.

Leafpool sighed and rolled her eyes. "It's a poppy seed. It'll help with the pain. One's not enough to help you sleep. You really should be awake when you're having kits," she joked, hoping to lighten the mood. Squirrelflight growled and didn't make a move to eat the seed. "Oh, just eat it! I'm trying to help you, you know! I'm your sister and medicine cat; it's what I do!" Leafpool exploded suddenly, glowering menacingly at her sister.

There was a small snort from Squirrelflight before she leaned over and grabbed the seed in her mouth and ate it, all the while glaring at her sister. Leafpool glared right back.

Silence spread for the next couple of minutes as Brambleclaw kept his rhythmic licking and Leafpool continued to examine her sister. Soulkit was beginning to zone out from boredom when Squirrelflight let out a shriek.

"The kits! Leafpool, I can feel them!"

Leafpool gasped, Brambleclaw's eyes widened, and Soulkit let out a squeak of terror. Sure enough, Squirrelflight's sides were heaving, her eyes clamped shut again and claws digging into the ground.

Not wanting to see any of the birthing process, Soulkit turned around and buried his face in the moss on the ground before curling up into a ball. Squirrelflight's yowls quickly became unbearable, and Soulkit began to recite the story of the Great Migration, and the roles of the three cats that he was in the den with.

Soulkit didn't know how much time had passed, but he had reached the part of the story where Hawkfrost had been killed by Brambleclaw. There the story ended, with Leafpool declaring that it was over and peace had come. But there had been no mention in the story of Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw having kits. Which only meant…

_This took place after the story ended!_ The thought hit Soulkit like a rock and he gasped, eyes snapping open. Why was he dreaming about this? Surely his imagination wasn't this good. Everything was so real, so _true_. A weird sensation of uncertainty began to creep over the young kit, causing his legs to shake. More questions began to race through his mind, but he couldn't get a grasp on any of them. Squirrelflight let out a shriek of agony behind him and the kit bolted, sprinting out of the nursery and into the open air.

He slammed to a halt, gasping for breath in the center of the camp with his eyes closed again. Once he had gotten a grip on his emotions, he leaned his head back cracked open an eye.

Then he snapped open the other one and blinked furiously, trying to figure out what the heck he was looking at.

Up in the sky were thousand- if not millions- of dots of light. Each one seemed to sparkle and move of its own accord, some stronger than others, but all radiating a comforting, warming glow. Soulkit shook his head in wonder; he had never seen this before.

But he knew, without a doubt, that he was looking at StarClan, the legendary resting place of the souls of departed cats.

There was no way this was simply a dream. Soulkit couldn't tell exactly what it was if it wasn't that, but he didn't have a clue what a star looked like, so how could he have dreamed this?

It was simple- he couldn't have.

Soulkit's head began to throb with all the questions he had, and shook it furiously to clear it. This was a little too much to take in at once; he'd have to go step by step.

But it didn't help that he didn't have a clue of where to start with figuring the entire situation out. Agitated, the young tom began to pace around the clearing, avoiding the few cats that were still waiting for news of Squirrelflight's kits.

He didn't have long to think, however. With a rustle, Leafpool emerged from the nursery, looking exhausted by pleased. There was a flurry of movement and a bright orange tom and a pale ginger she-cat made their way over to the medicine cat, their eyes questioning. "How is she? And what about the kits?" asked the she-cat anxiously, tail flicking nervously.

Leafpool smiled gently. "They're all fine. Looks like you two are grandparents to identical twin toms."

"Twins!" exclaimed the tom, eyes wide. He and the she-cat shared started looks, and then both began to purr and nuzzle each other.

"You make your parents sound old, Leafpool," joked the she-cat, her eyes glittering with happiness.

"Well, we _are_ old, Sandstorm," mewed the tom. He was only given a snort in return from Sandstorm, who glared at her mate. Soulkit knew now without a doubt that the tom was Firestar. "Anyway, can we see the kits?" he asked hopefully.

Leafpool nodded and led the way. "But only one at a time; there's not much room and Squirrelflight's still a little out of it," she explained over her shoulder. "Firestar, why don't you go first?"

The leader nodded and followed his daughter into the den. Soulkit followed the pair, hoping that the worst of the kitting was over.

Inside the den, Squirrelflight was curled around two balls of bright golden fur while Brambleclaw watched, his eyes glowing with fatherly pride. The two looked up as Leafpool and Firestar entered.

Firestar peered down at the two bundles of fur. "Well, look at that, identical twins. I didn't really believe Leafpool when she told me, but the proof's staring me in the face!" he mewed happily. "Did you name them?"

Squirrelflight mumbled something and let out a yawn before rolling over and starting to snore. Leafpool rolled her eyes and Firestar chuckled.

"Well, they're not really identical anymore. Look," Brambleclaw mewed, nudging the kit on the right. The kit let out a mew of protest, but Brambleclaw rolled him onto his stomach so that his back was clearly seen. "See? He' got stripes. His brother doesn't."

Soulkit peered closer, eyes wide and curious. Sure enough, the kit's back was covered with stripes, while his brother's was not. Leafpool inhaled sharply, as if the stripes had some secret significance, but neither of the other two toms noticed. "What are their names?" she asked, voice shaking a little.

If either of the toms noticed that, they didn't show it. "The one with the stripes is Lionkit, and the one without is Sunkit," mewed Brambleclaw as he nudged the two brothers closer to Squirrelflight's stomach.

Tension was now pouring off of Leafpool and it was making Soulkit antsy. "Firestar, I'm sure Sandstorm wants to come see the kits," Leafpool mewed tensely, ears twitching.

Firestar blinked, as if he had forgotten all about his mate. "Ah, yes, she is. Let's go and let her have some grandmother time with her new grandsons," he said, shooting Brambleclaw an encouraging glance.

The two left, Soulkit hard on their heels. For some reason, he felt safest with Leafpool and had decided to follow her around until he got out this place. Once they were outside, Sandstorm pushed her way in, purring loudly.

Firestar watched her with a glint of amusement in his eyes. He then turned to Leafpool, who was staring silently at her paws. The tom's expression instantly fell and his eyes narrowed. "What's the matter?" he asked quietly, sizing his daughter up.

The medicine cat was quiet for a moment before raising her gaze to meet her father's. "Not long ago, Spottedleaf visited me in a dream."

Firestar's eyes widened and Soulkit gasped shrilly. He knew the story of the young medicine cat and her connection to Firestar from the stories.

Leafpool looked up the sky, eyes reflecting the stars that glittered there. "She led me to the Moonpool and told me a darkness was coming. A darkness so great that not even StarClan could see a way to stop it or to find a cat that could stop it. She then recited a prophecy, and said-" Here Leafpool choked, tears beginning to brim in her eyes. "And I think it involves Squirrelflight's kits."

Firestar was staring at his daughter with horrification written on his face. He shook his head slowly, as if denying it would make it go away; erase whatever Spootedleaf had said. "I can't mean them! They're just kits!" he said, desperation coating his words.

Leafpool shook her head. "Age makes no difference. You should know that…"

The fur on Soulkit's neck felt like it was on fire; the night no longer seemed friendly or comforting. The distressed look on Firestar's face and the grieving one on Leafpool's were sucking the happiness out of the air itself.

"What did the prophecy say?" Firestar asked quietly.

Leafpool gazed at her father with a look that, to Soulkit, looked dead. Her eyes were empty and there was no spark of life anywhere on her. With a sigh, she opened a mouth and began to recite the prophecy that foretold the death of everything the Clan cats held dear and that would never leave Soulkit's thoughts until his dying day:

"_The Lion will swallow the Sun_

_And create a stone of blood;_

_StarClan's reign will be finished_

_By the soiled paws of kin;_

_Only the ultimate sacrifice of gold_

_With the unwavering will of steel_

_Will return StarClan to the skies."_

* * *

**Dun dun dun! Actaul plot development! Hope you enjoyed Soulkit's little "dream" **

**And I swear I didn't know that one of Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw's kits would be Lionkit when I wrote this. But there is a reason for the names, which you might have already figured out if you read the FMA manga. But if you don't, no worries! It will be revealed in later chapters.**

**Review please! -holds out tray of cookies-**


	6. Blood's Island

**Woot! It's chapter 5! FINALLY! I'll be surprised if I still have any reviewers, honestly. I'm so bad at updating... But I swear, school is what kept me tied up. My English II teacher loves to have us do insanly big projects. **

**I love everyone for reviewing, too. It makes me feel loved and lets me know that I'm not crazy for doing this crossover.**

**But here it is. There's some plot development, too. It's also a Christmas present to my readers and reviewers, since I doubt I'll be able to get chapter 6 up in time.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors of Fullmetal Alchemsit ;.;**

* * *

"Soulkit! Hey, wake up!"

The yowl came crashing through the grim, still night in the ThunderClan camp, causing Soulkit to jump and blink in surprise. When he opened his eyes again, the dark camp with Firestar and Leafpool was gone, leaving him staring into Metalkit's golden eyes. It took him a moment to realize that he was panting heavily, as if he had just run a mile.

The two stared at each other for a moment, Soulkit blinking confusedly and Metalkit giving him a worried look. "You kept panting and twitching in your sleep. Your pad isn't infected, is it?" he asked, concern coating his voice. The tom made to go look at the paw, but Soulkit quickly tucked it under his stomach, shaking his head.

"No, it's fine. I just had a weird dream. Nothing important," he mewed quickly. For a moment, the young tom debated with telling brother about Leafpool's prophecy, but he quickly smashed the thought. ThunderClan and its cats were gone; one of their prophecies wasn't important to what was going on now. Besides, there was no proof that it had even happened back when the Clan was alive.

Metalkit tilted his head, eyes narrowed as he sized up his younger brother. "Suit yourself. Here, have some mouse," he said, shoving a mouse into Soulkit's face. The young kit stared at it for a moment before taking a careful bite. He had never eaten a mouse before, and wasn't exactly sure what to be expecting. To his surprise, he found the meat a huge step up from the Twoleg mush and finished the juicy meal quickly, almost choking when he took too big of a bite, which caused Metalkit to erupt into a fit of laughter.

By the time Metalkit had stopped rolling around in his mirth, Soulkit had managed to finish the mouse. He licked his lips and let out a loud burp, which put Metalkit into another round of snickers. Soulkit gave his brother an annoyed scowl then smirked suddenly as an evil plan began to form. With a yowl, he leaped at his brother, paws batting out at the elder's side. Metalkit gave out a howl of shock and the two began a furious wrestling match, claws sheathed, of course.

After a couple of minutes, the two stopped, panting heavily from their mock fight. Metalkit was still snickering over Soulkit's undignified belch and he finally let out a sigh and rolled onto his side, legs sticking out, face flat on the ground.

Soulkit exhaled slowly and flopped on the ground next to his brother. After a moment of consideration, he shoved his head under Metalkit's, ignoring the indignant huff at the sudden movement. The silence dragged out for a long stretch of time, and it was Soulkit who finally broke the quiet. "I miss her, Brother," he whimpered, wiggling a little closer and burying his eyes in his brother's ruff of fur around his neck.

Metalkit didn't move, but simply closed his eyes. If it hadn't been so quiet out in the forest, Soulkit would have missed the hushed response.

"I do, too, Soulkit. I do, too."

* * *

The next morning, the pair woke up slowly, a little sore from their mock battle the previous night. Metalkit was grumbling the entire time about how impolite it was to have to get up so early, and Soulkit got so annoyed that he smacked the elder in the flank to get him to quiet down.

Once the pair was fully awake, they slipped out of the bush and began to head in the direction they had been going the night before. There wasn't much to see- just lots of bushes, trees, and the occasional stream. They drank from the stream, but decided not to eat any of the berries in case they were poisonous; Greysmoke had warned them about those.

It was almost sunhigh when the pair came to a small, abandoned Twoleg home. Metalkit was ready to walk right by, but Soulkit had a different idea. On one of the steps in front of the nest was a black tom, who was lounging and yawning widely in the sunlight.

Soulkit padded up to the tom, who, at a closer look, was too muscular to be a kittypet and was obviously a loner. His fur was short and kind of spiked, and he had unnatural purple eyes. There was an air of superiority around him, and he grinned widely as Soulkit approached, showing two rows of perfect, pointy teeth.

Soulkit stopped at the bottom step and dipped his head. "Hello, sir. I was wondering if you could give my brother and me directions."

The tom flicked his tail and looked thoughtful. "Sure, I suppose I could," he said, raising an eyebrow as Metalkit caught up to his brother, sputtering about how they didn't need directions, he knew exactly where they were going. "Where are you going, son? Kinda young to be out on your own, ain't you?"

Soulkit scowled at his brother for being so rude, and the elder glowered right back, but didn't say anything else. "We're looking for a loner. Her name's Bloodydeath," Soulkit replied, deciding to ignore the tom's second question.

The tom let out a startled hiss and jumped so violently that he fell off the step. Metalkit snickered, but Soulkit was alarmed. "Sir! Are you alright?" he asked, as the tom picked himself off the ground and gave himself a shake.

"Oh, I'm fine, sonny boy. But you're the ones who won't be if you go lookin' for Bloodydeath. She's bad news. What you wanna go see her for, anyways?"

Again, Soulkit ignored the question. "Can you just tell where she is?"

The tom licked a paw and sighed. "I really don't want to; it's almost as bad as sending you two little ones to your dea-"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SMALL SO SMALL THEY CAN BE KNOCKED OVER BY A LEAF?" bellowed Metalkit, a little slow on noticing the "small" reference because he had been completely ignoring the conversation. "If you don't want to tell us, we're leaving! C'mon, Soulkit," he growled, turning and stalking off.

"Brother! Come back!" whined Soulkit, giving his brother a pleading look. As always, the elder mumbled something and dragged himself back, sitting with a thunk and scowling.

Pleased that his plea had worked, the younger turned back to the tom, who was now staring at Metalkit with a look of horror. "Ya know, I think you two might be fine. To get to Bloodydeath, follow the stream to where it empties into a lake. That's Blood Lake, and it surrounds Bloodydeath's territory. She lives on the island in the middle."

"Wait, an island? How the heck are we supposed to get to it?" demanded Metalkit. He was _not_ going to swim across some lake.

The tom waved a paw for the kit to quiet down. "Don't worry. There are stepping stones that you can use to cross it," he replied.

Satisfied, Metalkit nodded and turned to go find the stream. Soulkit dipped his head, gave the tom a cheery "Thank you!" and bounded off after his brother. Soon, the two had vanished into the underbrush and the tom smirked.

"Well, that was easy. I gotta say, the older one's just like his old man."

"So true. I often find it a wonder that he didn't inherit any looks from his mother," came a reply from a tree.

The tom turned and glanced up before letting out an annoyed growl. "Look, Lustsoul, I'm perfectly capable of giving directions. You didn't have to spy on me," he spat, giving the she-cat that climbed down from the tree a dirty look.

"I know, I know, but Father charged me with taking care of the two kits, so I have to follow them. At least until they reach Bloodydeath. Then Wrathsoul will take over it from there," she replied as she sauntered over.

The black tom still didn't look satisfied. "Well, shouldn't you be following them now? I don't want you hanging around here. This place is mine. All mine! I found it!"

Lustsoul rolled her eyes. "I don't want your piece of mouse-dung. I'm just doing my job. Make sure you do yours," she spat, flicking the tom in the face with her tail.

His only response was a smirk. "I'll keep that in mind," he replied flippantly, flicking his tail in return. "Have a good day, Lustsoul."

The she-cat smirked. "You too, Greedsoul."

* * *

It didn't take long to find the stream that the loner had mentioned. It wasn't far from the loner's Twoleg nest, and it was a strong, wide stream. More of a river, really.

The pair took a quick drink from the water before heading down the river, padding quickly now that they actually had solid directions. Soulkit's paw had healed well from the thorn, and he only felt a quick shot of pain of he walked on anything that was too hard. But right now, the pair was on grass and sand, so there wasn't a large chance of stepping on anything too hard.

It was almost sunset when Soulkit paused, ears twitching as he stared straight ahead. "Brother! I can hear water!"

Metalkit gave his younger brother an odd look. "Um, yeah, Soulkit. We're standing right next to a stream," he said slowly, as if explaining something to an overly-dense kit.

Soulkit rolled his eyes. "I know that! But I meant that I could hear more water, like water in a lake," he explained, just as slowly to the elder.

There was a pause as Metalkit frowned and glared at his sibling. "Whatever. You say you can hear water? Then we must be close to Bloodydeath's lake! Point the way, dear brother," he said formally, a smirk on his face.

The younger kit grunted in amusement and began to trot quickly down the river. The lapping of water on the shore grew louder and louder with almost every step. Soon the pair was flat-out running, kicking up clumps of dirt behind them. The trees of the forest suddenly thinned out, and the brothers slammed to a halt, Metalkit doing a face-plant in the sand when he was unable to keep his balance.

Unlike his brother, Soulkit had managed to stay standing and was the first to take in the surroundings. The pair was standing on a sandy beach, which surrounded a large, clear lake. In the middle of the lake was an island, heavily forested and covered with undergrowth and shrubs. In front of them was a crooked line of stepping stones, which reached across the lake to the island. The water lapped at the edges of the stones, making them damp.

"It'll be tricky to get across on those stones," Metalkit commented once he had dislodged himself from the sand. The pair stood side-by-side, silently examining the lake and island in the center.

Soulkit tilted his head. "Yeah, but that's where we want to go, so we'll have to cross it."

Metalkit stared up at his brother. "Look, if you don't want to go, go back to Greysmoke's. You don't have to co-"

"I'm coming! For the last time, I'm coming!" interrupted Soulkit. He'd been told those exact lines a least ten times a day since they left, and frankly, he was tired of it.

Metalkit look surprised and finally shrugged. "All right, then. Let's go," he said, padding down the beach to the first stone.

It was a tense moment as Soulkit watched his brother position himself at the water's edge. Soulkit anxiously paced behind him, waiting for the golden tom to leap. It didn't take long. With a grunt, Metalkit jumped, landing safely on the first rock. His claws scraped over the rock as he turned around to face Soulkit. "Come on! We should try to get to the island before sunset!" he called. He then flicked his tail and continued on, leaping for the next rock.

Soulkit padded uncertainly to the shoreline, examining the rock warily. He was not a fan of the water, but to get to Bloodydeath, he had to. The young kit narrowed his eyes, unsheathed his claws, and mimicked his brother's stance. With a growl, he leaped, overshooting a little. He screeched and backpedaled onto the rock, wet half way up his front legs from where he had landed in the water.

A couple of rocks ahead, Metalkit let out a yowl of worry. "Soulkit! Are you okay?!" he called, concern written all over his face.

Soulkit nodded weakly and licked his lips. He had to figure this out and get it right! What good would he be out in the forest if he couldn't even figure out how to jump across rocks? A determined look crossed his face, and he slowly crouched down on the rock, eyes plastered on the next stone in line. Again, tension filled the air as the kit waited, waited…

Then, before he could think too much about what he was about to do, Soulkit leaped.

This time, however, he landed squarely on the stone. "Yes!" he shouted happily, doing a small little dance on the rock. Metalkit, who was almost to the island, let out a snort of laughter and kept going.

It was almost sunset when the pair reached the island. They scrambled up the beach and stumbled through the bushes that lined the shore. Once that was done, the brothers collapsed, Metalkit yawning widely. "Wow. I didn't know it would take that long," he muttered.

Soulkit only had the energy to grunt in agreement. Who would have thought that it would take most of the day to cross a lake?

_Crack._

Metalkit's head shot up at the sound. He glanced around, ears swiveling. Soulkit noticed his claws had become unsheathed. There was silence for a long stretch of time and Metalkit finally relaxed, sinking back down next to his brother. "Must have been a mouse or something," he mumbled, licking his paw to calm himself down.

Soulkit opened his mouth to agree, but was cut off by a low growl. He let out a squeak of fear and Metalkit hissed loudly. The bushes in front of them shook menacingly, and a large, dark figure stepped out. Once the moonlight hit the new arrival, Soulkit let out another shriek and jumped behind Metalkit; never mind that Metalkit was smaller and wouldn't be much of a shield.

The figure turned out to be a stocky, muscular brown tom cat. His tail lashed and his claws flexed as he advanced on the pair, teeth gleaming in a snarl. But that wasn't the scariest part about him: On his head was a smooth, shiny skull of another cat. The tom's eyes glared through the eye sockets of the skull, his ears poked through the ear holes, and his mouth fit perfectly under the upper jaw of the skull.

He stalked closer, eyes locked on the pair. Metalkit growled and spat furiously at the stranger, but the young kit's attempts seemed only to amuse the larger cat. He licked his lips and raised a paw threateningly, claws reflecting the pale moonlight.

"Get out! Get out of my territory!" he yowled before bunching his muscles and leaping at the kits.

* * *

**Oh my! Cliffhanger! -gets murdered by reviwers-**

**Anyway. Yes, the new cat is the Masked Man from Yock Island. We all know how well Ed and Al did during their 30-day stay there in the series... How will this turn out?**

**Well you can find out by reviewing, you know. That might get the author's muse a little more inspiring. ;D**


	7. Blood and Bone

**Ta-da! An update at last! I hope there are still people out there reading this. I'm really horrible at updating, and I apologize. But this chapter just didn't want to be written. **

**Massive caps lock abuse in this chapter, if I do say so myself. Oh, well.**

**And to my anonymous reviewer- Thanks for reviewing! I was considering giving Metalkit automail, since Den had it. But that would involve Twolegs, and I really wanted to keep them out of it. But he is going to be a really awesome kitty. I mean, it's Edward Elric kitty-fied. xD**

* * *

Soulkit could only stare in fear as the tom leaped towards him and his brother, claws glinting hungrily in the moonlight. It couldn't end like this! They had only just gotten to the island- they hadn't even found Bloodydeath yet!

It was Metalkit that finally decided to do something. "Soulkit! RUN!" he bellowed, kicking his brother in the side to snap him out of the trance before bolting into the forest. After a moment of confused hesitation, Soulkit darted after the elder tom.

But of course, he couldn't find Metalkit in the dense underbrush. "Brother! Where are you?" he yowled, eyes darting frantically around. But he couldn't see anything besides lots of bushes, and the entire island was ringing with noise. The mysterious tom's attack had woken what seemed to be every animal on the island, and now each and every creature was making one hell of a racket.

The confusion was really starting to scare Soulkit, so he darted in a random direction. With any luck, he'd run into his brother. "Brother!" he called again, starting to panic. He could hear something crashing around in the bushes, but he couldn't pick out where it was coming from.

A yowl of pain tore through the muddle of sounds, and Soulkit slammed to a halt. He knew that sound: it had to be Metalkit. Dread began to sink into his skin; his brother never made that much noise unless he was really hurt. Without a second thought, the young kit raced through the underbrush, ignoring the branches that tugged on his pelt. He'd be missing clumps of fur before this night was over, but he could deal with that.

Soulkit didn't know how long he ran, but, suddenly, the bushes were gone, but he kept running, right into the flank of the giant tom and getting the wind knocked out of him. The tom let only out a grunt and whipped his head around to glare to at Soulkit. The young kit let out a whimper and quickly scrambled back to his paws, ears flat on his head. It didn't occur to the kit to look for his brother; his gaze was fastened on the bigger tom and he was shaking so hard he couldn't run.

He didn't snap out of the trance until a voice rasped his name. "Soulkit! What are you doing here?!"

Soulkit jumped, surprised, and looked down, at the large tom's paws. Pinned under one of the tom's paws was Metalkit. His neck and face were smashed ungracefully into the ground, and one eye was covered with blood and crusted shut from the blood that leaked from a cut above it. There were various other scratches along the tom's chest, but what really caught Soulkit attention were the slashes on the side Metalkit's neck, each bleeding freely.

The fear was instantly replaced by a bubbling, seething rage. What the hell was this tom doing? All they had come here for was to see Bloodydeath, and he had gone and attacked them without even bothering to ask why they were there! "Let him go!" screeched Soulkit, his own claws unsheathing and growl leaving his throat.

Metalkit began yelling at Soulkit to leave, get off of the island, go back to Greysmoke and Winry, but was cut off by the tom pushing his paw harder onto Metalkit's throat. The kit let out a choked, gargling sound and began to thrash, biting the tom's leg and trying to free himself. A mirthless snort was the only response, as the tom didn't even flinch.

That laugh was what finally drove Soulkit over the edge. "I said, LET HIM GO!" he bellowed, leaping at the tom's neck.

The young kit's attack was obviously unexpected, as he managed to connect with the neck, claws slashing through the fur. The tom let out a yowl of surprise and backed up, releasing Metalkit, who began coughing furiously and scrambled to get to his paws so he could get away from the tom.

Soulkit darted over to his brother's side, eyes wide with worry, his battle adrenaline gone and the enemy completely forgotten. "Brother! Are you okay?" he asked worriedly. He felt like an idiot for asking the question; his brother was obviously not alright. The cut above his eye was still leaking blood and now the neck was bleeding freely from where the tom's claws had raked across the skin. The tom's breaths were ragged, and it was a wonder he was still standing.

Metalkit raised his head to look at Soulkit with his good eye. "Never been better," he muttered sarcastically, carefully trying to examine his neck injury.

The younger kit let out a sigh; at least Metalkit had the energy to be cynical. He couldn't be _that_ injured.

However, the happy reunion was cut short as another growl rumbled from the large tom. There were claw marks across his neck, and the bone was spattered with flecks of blood. If anything, he seemed even larger and scarier than he had before. The tom began to slowly advance forward, claws glinting in the pale moonlight.

Metalkit let out a growl of his own and lashed his tail, obviously trying to appear stronger and more menacing. But this tom was no idiot, and let out a grunt of amusement. "Fools. You two stand no chance against me. You should be happy I found you before Bloodydeath. Now go. Get out!"

"Leave? You've got to be joking; we have no intention of leaving," snarled Metalkit, who seemed to be getting weaker by the second. The bleeding still had not stopped, and his legs were starting to shake. "We came to see Bloodydeath, and we're not leaving until we do!"

"She'll kill you."

"No she won't. I won't let her!"

The tom seemed to have had enough. "Fine, suit yourself. But to find her, you'll have to get through me."

Metalkit snarled and lashed his tail. "Alright, then, Bonehead!" he spat insultingly. With a yowl of fury, he charged, a small ball of golden fur and claws.

The brown tom seemed pleased at this attack and let out a bellow of his own before dashing to meet Metalkit head-on. Soulkit let out a wail of fear and helplessness; he couldn't think of anything to do to get them out of the situation, and he might get in the way and make things worse.

The two toms seemed ready to meet and pretty much rip each other to shreds, but another screech tore through the forest. "BONEMASK! DO NOT ATTACK!"

The tom, Bonemask, slammed to a stop and swerved out of Metalkit's range of attack. Metalkit, too, skidded to a halt, ears flicking and eyes wide.

Soulkit slowly turned around. The voice had come from behind him, and his ears were still ringing from the screech.

On one of the tree branches, her tail bristling with unbridled fury, was a slim black she-cat. Her dark eyes were narrowed dangerously and her long claws dug into the tree limb. She let out a low growl and dropped to the ground before stalking forward towards the three toms. Soulkit backed away quickly; the she-cat's fury was almost tangible in the air. Metalkit seemed just as wary; he licked his lips nervously and flexed his claws.

She stopped about a tail-length from Bonemask, who looked downright scared. The black she-cat simply glared as the silence stretched out. After taking a deep breath, Bonemask greeted her.

"Hello, Bloodydeath. I hope we didn't wake you."

Soulkit let out a gasp and Metalkit made a strange, strangled noise of surprise. The she-cat whirled around to glare at them, lips drawn back to reveal her teeth. "What are you two kits doing here?!" she demanded, ignoring Bonemask's greeting.

Again, Soulkit let out a squeak and dove behind Metalkit, who was rooted to the spot. The elder flicked his tail nervously before opening his mouth to speak.

"My brother and I want you to train us," he said calmly, claws digging into the ground from nervousness.

Bloodydeath started, obviously surprised at the request. She tilted her head, the bloodlust gone for the moment. "You want me to _what_?" she asked, obviously utterly confused.

Metalkit's tail lashed. "We want you to train us to be able to fight," he repeated, slower this time.

Bloodydeath obviously did not appreciate that. "I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME!" she bellowed, taking a threatening step closer to the brothers, both of which took a hasty step back. The she-cat snorted and sighed, her eyes closed as she calmed herself down. With exaggerated slowness, she began to groom, as if she had completely forgotten the two kits.

Soulkit padded to sit next to his brother, feeling that he might want to actually appear to be as brave as Metalkit. He wasn't, but that wasn't really the point: They had to convince Bloodydeath together.

The younger cleared his throat nervously. "Um, Bloodydeath, ma'am?" he asked hesitantly, half-expecting the temperamental she-cat to lunge at him. Next to him, Metalkit's eyes narrowed in determination.

Instead, she cracked open an eyes and surveyed him quietly. After licking her lips, she sat up taller so that she was looking down at the two kits. "I've never trained anyone before," she stated, dark eyes flickering between Soulkit and Metalkit.

The two brothers were silent, simply staring at Bloodydeath intently. Bonemask yawned loudly and Bloodydeath shot him an annoyed glare.

She opened her mouth to say something, but Metalkit's stomach decided to let its unhappiness at the lack of food be known. The golden tom's eye twitched and Bloodydeath hissed.

"You can't even HUNT?" she demanded, slamming a paw on the ground. In response, Soulkit's stomach growled and Bloodydeath exhaled loudly. "Well. I can't let you kits just starve out here…" Her gaze wandered to Bonemask, who shrugged. With a flick of her tail, she got to her paws. "I suppose I could train you, but-"

But the rest of the sentence never came. Metalkit let out a yowl of victory and tackled Soulkit, who couldn't help but laugh loudly. Who would have thought that their stomachs would have come to save the day?

"I WASN'T DONE! DON'T INTERRUPT ME!" screeched Bloodydeath, fur standing on end. The two kits whimpered and went silent immediately. After a moment to let her words sink in, the she-cat's fur flattened and she went on in a calmer voice. "You will train as I see fit. No complaining. EVER. Got that?" she asked, eyeing the two kits sternly.

The brothers nodded in unison, still in the middle of tackling each other in their victory.

With a grunt, Bloodydeath flicked her tail. "We should get back to my camp. There should be some food there if Bonemask was doing his job…" The black cat shot a glare at Bonemask, who grinned sheepishly and quickly slipped off into the bushes.

Soulkit swallowed nervously; being alone with Bloodydeath was not high on his list of enjoyable activities. The she-cat was running her eyes over the two kits, examining each one meticulously. "Let's go," she growled, turning quickly on her paws and darting off through the woods without a sound.

Metalkit swore. "Why did she have to go and run off like that? We're not going to be able to keep up with her!" he whined, ears flat on his head.

Soulkit flicked his brother's side with his tail. "Brother, calm down! It must be a test. If we can't follow her, we won't be able to eat or begin out training," he explained, trying to fight back his own fury. They were just kits! Why did she have to go and run off like that?

"Well, let's follow her, then! We'll have to follow her scent trail," Metalkit said confidently, padding briskly over to where Bloodydeath had vanished.

"Um, we don't know how to do that."

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence. "There's a first time for everything," muttered Metalkit before shoving his nose into the ground and taking a deep whiff. However, all he got was a nose full of dirt, and Soulkit sighed as his older brother began to swear colorfully between sneezes. Where had his brother picked up that vocabulary?

Metalkit's cursing had subsided to muttered complaints when the bushes rustled again. The two kits tensed, and Metalkit growled quietly. They had learned that rustling bushes usually meant that something was going to attack them.

Instead of another cat hell-bent on killing them, it was Bonemask, a couple of mice clamped in his jaws. He gave the kits a curious look before comprehension dawned on his face. "Bloodydeath left you, didn't she?" he asked sympathetically.

The brothers exchanged a glance before nodding slowly in unison.

Bonemask shrugged. "Well, I'll take you. She accepted you, so there's nothing I can do about it. Come on," he said around the mice. He motioned for the pair to follow with his tail as he turned to head to Bloodydeath's camp.

Silence dominated the conversation until Bonemask turned his head around to look at the brothers. "You two never introduced yourselves," he commented, raising an eyebrow in encouragement for the two to do so.

"I'm Metalkit, and this is Soulkit, my younger brother," Metalkit replied quickly.

Bonemask tilted his head in surprise. "You're the older? Huh, I coulda sworn it was the other way around," he said thoughtfully. He looked away to contemplate the new information, and completely missed Metalkit's swipe at his face.

Soulkit smacked Metalkit's flank reprovingly with his paw, an annoyed look covering his face. "Brother! Be nice, they're giving us shelter and feeding us! It's the least you can do."

Metalkit gave his brother a withering look and began to sulk. H mumbled something about cats needing to stop judging age by size.

Bonemask grunted as the path they were following began to wind up a hill. "Camp's at the top. I have to say that it was nice meeting you two."

Soulkit blinked confusedly and shot a curious glance at a nonplussed Metalkit. "Um, why did you word it like that?" the elder asked, stopping in his tracks.

Bonemask gave them a grim smile. "Bloodydeath is going to murder you for being late," he said solemnly. He soberly nodded and then slipped up the rest of the hill and into the ring of bushes around the top.

There was a moment of silence before a yowl of fury broke through the air, sending a tree full of birds flying, all screeching shrilly. "WHERE ARE MY IDIOT APPRENTICES?! THEY'RE LATE!" bellowed Bloodydeath from inside the camp.

Metalkit let out a low moan and crouched down to the ground while Soulkit cowered behind the golden tom. He had a feeling the next couple of moons were going to be more torture than training.

* * *

**And there's chapter 6! Not a clue when chapter 7 will be coming, as school is insane and I've been forced onto the tennis team. Bleh. **

**But anyway, as always, please review! I love getting them. And any ideas you have, feel free to share! I might use them .**


	8. Stardust

**I updated! It's a miracle! When the new Crossover menu came up, I got a whole bunch of reviews from people who really wanted this fic to be finished. Massive thanks to** **BattKattColourBlak, who has been throwing ideas and suggestions around with me. It really did help.**

**So here's a new chapter! **

The next three moons had involved dozens of "battle training" sessions, which consisted of Bloodydeath beating the two brothers- now officially apprentices- to a pulp. After she had showed them the proper way to hunt, they had been left to fend for themselves. The three inhabitants of the island- Bloodydeath, Bonemask, or Largeshadow (Bloodydeath's mate) would often steal any prey that the two apprentices had caught. Bonemask, on Bloodydeath's orders, continued to harass them almost nightly. There hadn't even been enough room at the camp, so Metalpaw and Soulpaw were forced to find sleeping quarters elsewhere on Blood Island.

"This sucks," Metalpaw grumbled as he collapsed next to Soulpaw, was licking a cut on his flank.

"You don't have to tell me that," the younger replied, raising an eyebrow at his brother. Metalpaw's fur had become quite long over the course of their training and most nights involved picking out burrs and leaves from his coat. At the moment, the golden tom was dislodging a large leaf from his pelt.

"You catch anything today, Soulpaw?"

"Nope. You?"

"A vole. But Largeshadow stole it."

"Ah."

Their stomachs rumbled in unison and they glanced at each other. "How about we raid the camp?" suggested Metalpaw, a demented grin crossing his face.

"I'm not interested in suicide, Brother," Soulpaw muttered.

Metalpaw sighed and rolled onto his back. He glared at the moon, as if it was at fault for their dilemma. Soulpaw followed suit, but glanced at his brother instead of the moon. He had been having the dreams almost every night- Sunkit and Lionkit in ThunderClan, their family, the other Clans, and, most importantly, StarClan. The fact that he was seeing the long-vanished Clan in his dreams drove him crazy during the day, and he found himself wishing he could tell somebody. Bloodydeath and her companions were out of the question, which left Metalpaw. But whenever he opened his mouth to confide in his brother, he found himself unable to do so.

It was almost like someone was warning him not to tell his brother about his dreams. Like StarClan itself was forcing him to keep it to himself.

But that was ridiculous! StarClan was gone; they couldn't have any control over what was going on right now…. Could they?

The thought made Soulpaw shudder and he rolled back onto his stomach and curled into a ball, ears flat. _I really wish dead cats would just stay dead…_

A light laugh whispered past his ears and the tom started, jerking his head up. Metalpaw glanced at him before returning to his glaring match with the moon. Soulpaw frowned and glanced over his shoulder. He had heard a voice, but it didn't seem as if his brother had, even though they were sitting right next to each other.

"I'm going to, erm, go for a quick hunt," Soulpaw mumbled, ears burning with the lie. Metalpaw flicked his tail in response and the younger slipped away into the bushes.

The tom perked his ears and glanced around, eyes straining for some sign of another cat. When he found nothing, he crept further into the forest, mouth parted to pick up the scent. The smell that had accompanied the laugh had been something he'd never smelled before- it was sweet and comforting, but with a sharp tang of power that reminded him of water and winter.

He slowed to a halt and groaned loudly in frustration. The forest was silent, and he hadn't found any trace of the voice. "Hello?" he yowled, vainly hoping his call would be answered. "I just want to talk to you!"

A flicker to his left caught the young tom's attention and he bolted after it without a second thought. The bushes were thicker here, and Soulpaw could feel the branches tearing at his pelt. He was unfamiliar with the area and ended up stumbling multiple times over hidden roots.

But every once in a while, he would catch a glimpse of the fleeing figure, so he pushed on, hoping that he would catch up. If he could just talk to that cat, he would be able to get some answers- at least, that was what he hoped.

He caught a glance of the figure to his left and he turned sharply, almost colliding with a tree stump. The tom pushed his way through the tangle of vegetation and stumbled out into a clearing.

Above him, the sky was clear with a full moon hanging almost directly above him. Soulpaw frowned and padded to the center of the clearing; a jumble of rocks was situated there, almost in a perfect circle. He sniffed each one, but there were no cat scents there- in fact, the whole clearing seemed to be free of any sign of intrusion.

"Nobody comes here," Soulpaw whispered to himself, eyes widening in amazement. Here, right in the middle of Blood Island, was an area no cat had been to. _Is that even possible? Wouldn't Bloodydeath know about this place?_

"She does not know because she does not seek."

Soulpaw hissed and whipped around, ears flat and claws sliding out. His gaze darted around the clearing, but it was empty. "Who's there?" he growled.

A sharp blast of wind blew by him and the apprentice shivered. "Welcome, Soulpaw," purred a voice from behind him.

The apprentice paused and slowly turned around to face the voice.

It was a cat, as Soulpaw had guessed. The she-cat was a pretty calico and looked like any other cat, except for the faint dusting of white and silvery-blue specks on her coat. Her green eyes shone with age and knowledge and Soulpaw took an involuntary step backwards. "Who are you?"

The she-cat smiled gently and leaped down from the rock she had been perched on. She padded forward and touched noses with the golden-brown apprentice. The touch sent a jolt down Soulpaw's spine and he felt his fur prickle uneasily. "Me? My name is Spottedleaf."

Soulpaw's eyes widened. His first dream about ThunderClan flashed in his mind's eye, with Leafpool's words echoing in his ears: _"Not long ago, Spottedleaf visited me in a dream…"_ The apprentice shook his head slowly. "There's no way you can be Spottedleaf! She's dead and there's no StarClan… anymore."

The she-cat tipped her head to the side. "And what makes you say that?" she asked quietly.

"Well… The stars are gone," Soulpaw slowly replied. It seemed like an utterly ridiculous thing to say, especially since a cat from StarClan was standing right in front of him.

She nodded. "That is true; StarClan no longer rules the skies. But who is to say that we cannot live outside of the stars?"

Soulpaw tilted his head at the calico. "You mean StarClan's still around?"

Spottedleaf lauched gently and nudged the young apprentice with her nose. "How else would I be here?"

The tom frowned. She had a point. "Well then where-?"

"Sh!"

Spottedleaf cut him off. Her fur was bristling and she had turned around to stare into the bushes to Soulpaw's right.

Soulpaw turned slowly around, paws tingling. "Spottedleaf?" he asked, forcing his voice to stay quiet. "What's going on?"

The calico took several steps back towards the edge of the clearing. "I'm sorry, but I can't stay…"

"What? Why? Tell me, Spottedleaf!" Soulpaw was practically pleading with the she-cat. There were so many questions that he wanted answered, and it seemed that Spottedleaf was the only one who could answer them. But the former medicine cat only shook her head.

"Your dreams will show you," Spottedleaf replied, her voice fading into a whisper. As he watched, the she-cat's body began to fade, the silver flecks on her coat blinking out of existence.

"Wait!"

But a cloud drifted in front of the moon, coating the clearing in darkness. Soulpaw had taken steps to go after Spottedleaf's retreating form, but froze in his tracks as the gloom set in. A second later, the cloud was gone, and so was Spottedleaf. Soulpaw took a deep whiff, hoping to catch her scent, but it was gone. "No…"

"Hey! What are you doing?"

Soulpaw didn't recognize the voice and he froze, claws sliding out. There was a rustle of bushes and a small black tom slipped into the clearing. He narrowed his bright purple eyes at Soulpaw before flicking his tail and padding closer. The two stood nose-to-nose, both sniffing each other cautiously.

Finally, Soulpaw spoke. "Who are you?"

The young cat licked his chest to smooth his thick fur before answering. "I'm Shaggykit. How about you? What are you doing here?"

_Shaggykit? Never heard of him_… "I'm Soulpaw. My brother and I are Bloodydeath's apprentices," he explained.

The kit's ears perked. "Your brother? What's his name?" he asked, almost eagerly.

"Um… Metalpaw."

Shaggykit's eyes widened and a small grin crept onto his face. "Cool!" he exclaimed. "I didn't know Bloodydeath had any apprentices!"

Soulpaw frowned and began to pad back towards the edge of the clearing. Something was… wrong about the kit, and it was making the apprentice nervous. "Yeah, I didn't know she had a kit, either."

The kit pranced after Soulpaw. "I'm not her kit! Not really. She takes care of me, but she's not my mother. Oh! Maybe you and your brother can play with me sometime! You know, when you're done with all your apprentice stuff."

The apprentice stopped at the bushes and turned around. He stared down at the kit through narrowed eyes, the uneasy feeling increasing. What was it about this cat that had him so nervous? The little tom talked like a kit and wasn't unnaturally large or anything… But then the apprentice's eyes fell on the kit's rear left paw.

"Hey, what's that? That dot on your paw?"

Shaggykit froze, eyes wide. He took one step back before stopping forcibly and glancing around to look at his paws. "Oh, that's…. I burned myself on some embers," he replied stiffly, grinning weakly.

Soulpaw frowned and lashed his tail nervously. Yeah, there was something wrong with this kit. "Look, I have to go. I'm supposed to be hunting," he said.

"Aw, wait! We can still-" But Soulpaw had already darted back into the bushes. He pounded through the underbrush, not caring if he scared off prey. He and his brother had gone nights without food before, and he really wanted to get away from Shaggykit and the clearing.

After a couple of minutes, he realized he was too restless to go back to the den and sleep, so Soulpaw opted for climbing one of the trees in hopes of clearing his head. It took a while to get as high as he wanted, but he managed it. The golden brown tom sighed and situated himself comfortably on the branch, which was just above the tops of the tress in the rest of the forest.

He sighed, eyes roaming the empty black sky. Something had happened to StarClan, he was sure of that now. But what? What could have driven them from the sky? And what about the other four Clans? They were gone, too.

The young tom groaned and shook his head. The rush of questions was making his head pound but he knew sleep would bring the dreams, which meant even more questions would come.

Ugh.

"What do you want from me?!" he yowled, glaring at the sky. Mysteries and prophecies were all fine and dandy in the stories, but when they became real, well… Not so much.

Then there was Shaggykit. Soulpaw was pretty sure that Bloodydeath had never mentioned him, and there was no way the kit could have snuck onto the island without someone noticing. And the dot… It did look like a burn mark- no fur and nothing but scarred, raw skin left. But it was too perfect of a circle and the kit showed no sign of pain from it. Something in the back of Soulpaw's mind was screaming alarm at the dot and he had the feeling he'd seen it before. But where?

Frustrated at the whole ordeal, Soulpaw growled quietly to himself and began climbing down the tree. Hunting would definitely help him burn off some energy.

As the apprentice reached the ground, a slim she-cat crept out further onto the limb she had been perched on. Her ears perked as her purple eyes tracked Soulpaw's movements before he slipped into the bushes and out of side. A stiff breeze ruffled her thick, fluffy coat, but she paid it no heed.

"Interesting," she purred, sitting gracefully on the tip of the branch. "It seems the little one has developed a… _gift_." The she-cat licked her chest, tongue rasping against a small, red circle on her chest. She smiled to herself before turning elegantly and disappearing back into the shadows.

**Uh-oh, Soulpaw seems to have gotten himself into something big. **

**Hooray, an update and another story I get to work on. I'm hoping to finish this fic up before I graduate from high school, so I have about a year. This isn't going to be as long as I anticipated, but the chapters are going to stay about this length. **


	9. Rise of Scar

**Uhhh, yeah. Updates? Hey you got one! **

**This one's about everyone's favorite hobo, Scar. If you can't figure out who the cats are, check the end of the chapter. This chapter's also a flashback and takes place before the story starts. **

A stiff wind sent a swirl of dust flying across the open desert land. A deep, jagged canyon cut its way across the landscape, offering some protection from the dry desert heat and blasting winds. At the bottom of the canyon, several cats were clustered together, some dozing and others sharing tongues.

On one of the ledges scattered about the canyon walls, two toms sat next to each other, watching the sunset. The large brown tabby turned to his companion and narrowed his bright red eyes. "You can't be serious," he told his companion quietly.

The other tom flattened his ears and sat up. He shook himself, shaking the sand loose from his short, tan fur. "I am, Stripedpelt."

Stripedpelt growled in annoyance and got to his paws. "Look, Dunestorm! You can't do that! Not only is it wrong, but you're still getting over your injuries from the attack!"

Dunestorm's lips pulled back in a snarl, contorting the large x-shaped scar on his face. "Don't tell me what's wrong! What those filthy AmestrisClan cats did was wrong and they will pay for it!" he yowled, jumping up to glare at the other cat.

Below, several cats looked up, but the two toms ignored the unwelcome attention. Stripedpelt scowled. "That doesn't make your actions right! What you're planning to do is against the warrior code and StarClan!"

Dunestorm froze, red eyes wide. Then he sighed and turned away, tail dragging in the dust. "The warrior code… StarClan." He paused and then glanced up towards the sky. Stripedpelt watched him quietly. Then, suddenly, he unsheathed his claws and raked the stone beneath him with a yowl. "StarClan! If StarClan truly did exist, then why did they let those cats kill us? Was it StarClan's will to have our kits and queens massacred? To have our only water supply poisoned? To be chased right off of our own land? _Was it_, dear brother?"

Stripedpelt flinched and looked away. "You can't say things like that. We are the last Clan who believes in StarClan, and if we start doubting… Then there's nothing left. No warrior code, no structure, no… peace. We'll be nothing but savages!"

Dunestorm growled and shoved his face into his brother's. "Look where that has gotten us! You know as well as I do that it was our faith in StarClan that drove AmestrisClan to attack us like that! And it that same belief that prevents us from striking back." The IshbalClan cat paused and took a deep breath. "Well I won't have it. If getting my revenge means forsaking StarClan… Then so be it."

Stripedpelt took a horrified step backwards and shook his head furiously. But before he could answer, another voice cut him off.

"Is that how you truly feel, Dunestorm?"

The two toms looked up in surprise. Above them at the top of the canyon sat a dark brown tom with black paws, his silhouette outlined by the growing dusk. Two other warriors flanked him, and they were dismissed with a quick flick of the tom's tail. As they crept down into the ravine, the tom spoke again. "Answer me, Dunestorm. Are those your feelings?"

Both toms bowed their heads respectfully before Dunestorm spoke up. "Yes, Ebonystar, they are."

The leader paused before leaping down to stand next to the two toms. He sighed, appraising Dunestorm before shaking his head. "I understand that the attack has upset you, but that was StarClan's way of testing-"

Dunestorm cut off his leader with a snarl. "A test? That was a test? I think not! How could our ancestors possibly want us to go through something like that?" The tom narrowed his eyes and looked away.

At this point, the rest of the Clan was watching. Some looked worried, but a couple of cats were muttering together, looking thoughtful.

Ebonystar frowned and shifted, his tail flicking with agitation. "No one can know StarClan's true motives. They have been silent for generations."

Dunestorm growled and looked away from the dark brown leader. "I'm sorry, Ebonystar, but I have a hard time believing in something that no cat has seen in hundreds of moons," he replied quietly.

Stripedpelt's ears were pinned back as he glanced between his leader and brother.

"It may be against StarClan, but I'm going to do what I feel is right."

The older tom bowed his head. "I had hoped that my own apprentice would not stray from StarClan's path, but…You must go where your paws lead you." The two brothers glanced at their leader in surprise. Stripedpelt opened his mouth, but was silenced with a flick of Ebonystar's tail. "If you don't follow your heart, you will never fulfill your destiny. And I feel that yours is great."

The three cats sat in silence; Stripedpelt bowed his head. Dunestorm stared at his older brother for a moment before nodding stiffly and leaping down from the ledge. The cats below scattered as the large tan tom landed with a puff of sand and began to walk towards the entrance of the canyon.

"Whatever your path, Dunestorm, follow your heart and know that I will always support you."

That brought the tom to a stop and he turned back towards Ebonystar, who was still sitting on the ledge. Next to him, Stripedpelt was hunched against the rock, tail flicking nervously.

Dunestorm licked his lips. "Then I ask you one last favor."

The leader nodded, motioning for the warrior to go on.

"I ask for you to change my name."

Several cats gasped and Stripedpelt's mouth fell open. Ebonystar, however, remained impassive. "I take it you want to choose the name yourself?"

The tom responded with a nod.

"So be it. What name did you have in mind?"

Dunestorm was silent for a moment, thinking. "I have chosen. I want you to change my name, but none of the ceremony. StarClan has no reason to know of this. My name shall be Scar."

Ebonystar's eyes narrowed slightly, but he showed no other sign of disapproval. "So be it," he finally replied, voice echoing in the canyon. "Farewell, Scar. And may StarClan light your path, if you believe in them or not."

The tom showed no sign of hearing his leader's words; he turned sharply around and began to pad out of the canyon, heading west towards the thick, dark border of trees that marked the edge of AmistrisClan territory.

His first attack had happened by accident, really. The woods were thick, and Scar was a cat of the desert and open spaces. The wetness of the ground and the cool breezes set him on edge.

And the animals that roamed the woods of AmestrisClan were things to be feared.

Scar had made the mistake of taking shelter in a badger set, and had been chased out by a bawling, snapping beast of black and white fur. He had never seen something so monstrous and he had bolted, hackles raised, claws unsheathed.

It was no wonder the cats of AmestrisClan were so battle-hardened with things like _that_ living in their territory.

He had run blindly through the forest until he stumbled into a clearing.

There was another cat in the clearing and Scar froze as the other tom turned to face him. Scar's eyes narrowed the instant he got a whiff of the cat- AmestrisClan, for sure. Not only that, but an Elite Warrior- he could remember this cat slicing his way through IshbalClan warriors.

The tom growled and took a step closer to the smaller cat. "I know you," he hissed. "You're one of Bladestar's Elite Warriors."

"How astute of you," the warrior replied with a mock bow. "I am Silverstrike. And you, obviously, are from IshbalClan. What brings you across the border?" The tone of the tom's voice darkened at the end of the sentence and he crouched.

Scar wasn't sure what happened. Revenge took over and he lunged, grabbing the tom's back leg in his jaw. Silverstrike let out a yowl and slashed; the claws tore his ear, splattering the warriors' pelts with blood.

Scar heaved Silverstrike over his shoulder and, with a swift kick, sent the tom into the stream that snaked through the forest a couple of tail-lengths away. He jumped in, pinning the tom to the riverbed. The water lapped at his shoulders, but was too deep for Silverstrike and the tom began to struggle.

For several seconds, Scar watched silently. _This is what you came here to do. Kill him! He murdered your Clan!_

That was all it took. Scar snarled and drove his head beneath the water and clamped his jaws around Silverstrike's neck. The tom's eyes were wide with fear, and Scar found that he enjoyed it.

Then he jerked his head, snapping the tom's neck and shredding the skin.

The trashing stopped and Scar slowly padded out of the river. The river was tinged red with the warrior's blood and Scar found himself grinning smugly. _Now it's your turn. Watch your Clan die, one by one._

He quickly left, scaling a tree and moving further into the territory. It was only a matter of time before a patrol found the body, and then…

Well, then it was war.

"Silverstrike's dead?"

"How? Was it a badger? Maybe a fox?"

"No, it looks like another cat."

"The patrol said they could pick up IshbalClan scent in the area…"

"Those monsters! Silverstrike was nearing retirement. He was too old to fight off a warrior on his own!"

Atop Highrock, Bladestar sat, silently watching as AmestrisClan gathered, talking of the recent discovery of Silverstrike's dead body. The black tom pinned his ears and glanced over to where several cats were clustered together, away from the main group. He could pick out Snapfire and Ivorydagger talking, their heads close together; Snapfire's hackles were raised and Ivorydagger's tail was thrashing.

"Bladestar!"

He turned to see Ironblood and Ravenshadow making their way up the rock.

Ironblood, the Clan's deputy and a massive, muscular black and brown tom, looked furious. Ravenshadow looked more worried, but he too had a spark of anger in his eyes. As the two most seasoned warriors in the Clan, they were part of Bladestar's inner circle.

"We just got back from the attack site. It was an IshbalClan cat, no doubt about it," Ravenshadow reported. He began to lick stray clumps of dirt of his graying pelt.

"To think a piece of trash got so far into our territory! Bladestar, we have to send out more patrols. This cat has to be killed, and the sooner, the better." Ironblood looked ready to rip someone's head off and Bladestar couldn't blame him. Ironblood had been the head warrior in charge of making sure the IshbalClan cats were gone, and here was one, plain as day, attacking the Clan.

"Do what needs to be done. I won't have him killing my warriors."

Both toms stiffened. The words obviously went beyond the leader's protection of his Clan.

They dipped their heads and slunk back to crowd.

Bladestar blinked, and out of the corner of his one eye, he could see Snapfire staring at him. The leader turned his head and the two made eye contact. The young warrior scowled and Bladestar looked away, back to the mass of cats.

_Who was it? Who killed Silverstrike?_

One moon later, they found out when Scar attacked and killed Ironblood while he was on patrol.

**Hooray! Sorry it's a little short. Next chapter is back to the brothers!**

**Dunestorm/Scar- Scar.  
Stripedpelt- Scar's brother.  
Ebonystar- Scar's teacher.  
Ironblood- Basque Gran  
Silverstrike- Silver Alchemist (Manga/Brotherhood)  
Ravenshadow- General Raven (Manga/Brotherhood)**


End file.
